MAY   2  1918 


BX    5937    .T?"  C68  T91F" 

^^^f^^;^ 'Challenge   to  man's 
SDirit    m   this  world   crisis 


CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN'S  SPIRIT 
IN  THIS  WORLD  CRISIS 


By  the  same  Author 

ESSAYS  IN  APPRECIATION 

New   Edition,   Revised 
i2mo.  Cloth,  $1.20,  net 


The  Rev.  Henry  A.  Coit — Sister  Anne 
Agnes — The  Rev.  Morgan  Dix — The 
Rev.  William  Reed  Huntington — The 
Right  Rev.  Henry  Codman  Potter — The 
Rev.  Canon  Laurence  Henry  Schwab — 
Newman  Once  More:  A  Study — Bishop 
Doane:  The  Poet — An  Experiment  in 
Conservative  Revision  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament: A  Review — General  Booth — 
Christ  and  Bergson — John  Pierpont 
Morgan — ^William  Croswell  Doane. 

NEW  YORK:  LONGMANS,  GREEN  AND  CO. 


CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE 

TO  MAN'S  SPIRIT 

IN  THIS  WORLD  CRISIS 

Advent  Addresses  at  the  Cathedral 


of  St.  John  the  Divine,  New  York     /.\:^^      ^        ^^^ 

MAY   2  1918 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  DOUGLAS,  D.D.,  S.T.D 


<fO/nfi{Pki  ccMA^^V 


Published  by  Request  of  the  Demi  and  Others 


LONGMANS,    GREEN   AND    CO. 

FOURTH   AVENUE  &  30th   STREET,  NEW  YORK 

39    PATERNOSTER    ROW,     E.G.,     LONDON 

BOMBAY,    CALCUTTA,    AND    MADRAS 

I918 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
GEORGE  WILLIAM  DOUGLAS 


FOREWORD 

These  addresses  were  delivered  in  course  at 
the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine,  New  York, 
on  the  Sunday  afternoons  in  Advent,  191 7.  Their 
general  subject  is  the  essential  spirituality  of 
human  life,  in  contrast  to  the  materialistic  aspect 
which  in  these  trying  times  our  life  has  seemed 
to  wear.  Like  many  others,  the  preacher  has 
heard  above  the  tumult  of  world-war  a  distinct 
challenge  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  to  the  spirit 
that  is  in  man;  and  these  addresses  are  a  faithful 
endeavor  to  declare  the  message  that  has  been 
thus  vouchsafed. 

Everybody  is  aware  by  now  that  this  is  a  dan- 
gerous world,  but  it  is  more  and  more  evident 
that  the  chief  danger  is  not  to  men's  bodies,  but 
to  their  minds  and  souls.  At  the  front  plain 
soldiers  have  learned  this  where  the  appearances 
were  most  to  the  contrary.  On  the  battle-field 
bodily  harm  is  for  the  moment  comparatively 
unimportant:  what  matters  most  is  the  spirit, 
and  the  body  must  be  kept  fit  so  as  to  secure 
presence  of  mind;  and  some  have  found  their 
souls  more  liberated  than  ever,  realizing  that  the 
point   of   death   is    a   point    of   life.     Meanwhile 


VI  FOREWORD 

those  same  old  mysterious  terms,  the  good  and 
the  bad,  crop  up  and  are  appHed  even  to  the 
mechanism  of  war  and  the  material  implements. 
We  cannot  refrain  from  judging  these  according 
to  the  character  of  those  that  wield  them,  and 
their  spiritual  purpose. 

Behind  the  lines  this  world  crisis  has  had  much 
the  same  result.  The  great  surprise  of  Hfe  these 
past  three  years  has  been  the  spirituality  of  it, 
and  the  arousal  of  the  human  mind,  even  when  it 
was  being  drilled  to  attain  what  looked  like  the 
goal  of  sheer  materialism.  Germany  has  borne 
tacit  testimony  to  this  by  her  system  of  universal 
espionage,  her  propaganda  and  intrigue.  Here 
her  aim  was,  not  men's  bodies,  but  their  mentality, 
and  to  control  or  break  their  spirit. 

As  to  presence  of  mind,  the  Prussians  by  years 
of  preparation  had  stressed  that  for  all  and  even 
more  than  it  is  worth.  All  Germany  had  been 
intellectually  drilled.  But  here  came  another  sur- 
prise. Many  intelHgent  men  had  supposed  that 
if  you  develop  the  intellect,  man  will  thereby  of 
himself  alone  outgrow  what  is  brutal  in  him.  But 
the  devil  was  ready  to  tempt  even  intellectuals 
to  be  brutish  still.  So  it  has  been  proved  on 
an  enormous  scale  that  the  brute  man  can  be 
intellectual  up  to  a  certain  point.  But  at  that 
point  he  has  had  an  astonishing  experience.  He 
has  found  that  brute  force,  even  when  backed  by 


FOREWORD  Vll 

brainpower  and  unlimited  desire,  is  in  the  long  run 
futile  for  the  government  of  intellectual  men  that 
are  not  brutish,  since  these  resent  to  the  death  such 
domination  unless  their  spirit  gives  way.  God 
knows  that  America  has  sins  enough  of  her  own,  but 
hitherto  she  has  not  succumbed  to  the  delusion  that 
Might  is  Right.  Nay  at  the  very  moment  when, 
dismayed  by  Prussianism,  thousands  of  mankind 
were  asking  whether  Christianity  is  not  a  failure, 
the  challenge  of  Jesus  Christ  made  itself  heard 
once  more.  His  Name  is  probably  on  more  men's 
lips  now  than  ever  before.  And  now,  as  ever, 
the  authority  of  Christ  Himself  is  superior  to 
that  of  those  who  have  called  themselves  Chris- 
tians. Christ  searches  and  divides  the  spirits 
of  men,  asking  them,  "What  spirit  are  ye  of?" 
He  presents  Himself  in  the  Everlasting  Now: 
the  life  to  come  begins  here  for  those  who  will  lay 
hold  on  it.  To  which  decision  Christ  invites  us, 
saying:  "Follow  Me,  and  ye  shall  not  walk  in 
darkness." 

This,  then,  is  our  Day  of  Judgment;  but  it 
goes  beyond  our  immediate  trial.  This  war  will 
not  last  forever;  but  afterward,  on  what  appear 
to  be  more  peaceful  fields,  the  challenge  of  Jesus 
will  still  be  ringing  in  our  ears.  So  there  our 
Christian  warfare  shall  continue.  The  science  of 
political  and  industrial  management  remains  to 
be  mastered,  and  the  prophets  of  democracy  fore- 


VUl  FOREWORD 

see  that  the  science  of  management  does  not  lie 
with  the  managers  alone.  Labourer  and  manager 
must  co-operate  and  sympathize,  animated  by 
Christ's  Spirit,  or  else  the  devil  will  prod  them  to 
the  same  old  tragedy  of  brutishness  backed  by 
brainpower  and  unlimited  desire.  It  is  not  merely 
a  technical  but  a  human  problem,  and,  as  such, 
spiritual.  Here  again  man,  if  he  will  lay  hold  on 
eternal  life,  can  exchange  nothing  for  his  soul;  and 
the  intrepid  spirit  must  choose  whether  to  be  inde- 
pendent oj  Christ  or  independent  with  Him.  To 
have  faith  in  democracy  we  must  have  faith  in 
Christ,  Who  presents  our  God  to  us  as  the  Servant 
of  servants.  Social  service  without  Christ  is 
cankered  by  Pride;  but  Christ,  as  Captain  of  our 
souls,  is  the  transfiguration  of  HumiUty,  and  God 
as  Love  is  all  in  all. 

After  my  course  was  finished  I  received  from 
the  Dean  of  the  Cathedral  a  most  kind  expression 
of  his  hope  that  my  sermons  might  be  pubUshed. 
A  like  request  came  from  the  circle  of  clergymen 
in  New  York  and  vicinity  known  as  The  Clericus. 
I  have  availed  myself  of  the  permission  given  me 
to  print  in  an  appendix  these  unexpected  letters 
which  induced  me  to  let  my  little  volume  go  out 
into  the  world. 

George  William  Douglas. 

Feast  of  the  Epiphany, 
January  6,  191 8. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  Christ's  Challenge  to  the  Spirit  of  Man i 

In  spite  of  appearances,  man  is  still  finding  that 
this  is  a  spiritual  world.  Even  on  the  battle-field 
the  body  must  be  fit,  not  so  much  for  its  ovm  as 
for  the  spirit's  sake.  Presence  of  mind  and  spirit 
decide  the  issue;  and  some  find  their  spirits  liberated 
as  never  before.  And  the  old  mysterious  terms, 
the  bad  and  the  good,  still  apply  even  to  war  tools 
according  to  the  purpose  of  those  who  wield  them. 

In  Advent  we  celebrate  the  arrival  of  the  most 
spiritual  Person  in  the  world.  He  met  the  worst 
that  we  encounter  now;  but  throughout  He  was 
in  touch  with  the  Father  of  Spirits.  Christ  offers 
us  His  knowledge  of  the  Father,  and  challenges 
our  faith. 

II.  What  Spoils  the  Human  Spirit:  Pride 15 

The  tragedy  of  Saul.  German  Kultur  is  now  our 
object-lesson.  To  Americans  it  came  from  a  dis- 
tance, for  our  institutions  are  not  favourable  to  it; 
but  in  other  forms  we  have  the  same  temptation. 
Bishop  Lawrence's  call  to  Purity.  Our  part  in  the 
world-war,  if  we  are  great  enough  to  be  humble. 

III.  Laying  Hold  on  Eternal  Life 28 

What  identifies  our  life  here  and  hereafter,  accord- 
ing to  St.  Paul.  Paul's  doctrine  presented  alle- 
gorically  in  the  Mediaeval  play,  "Everyman." 
Both  Paul  and  "Everyman"  agree  with  Darwin's 
doctrine  of  Development.  Christianity  does  not 
neglect  the  present  for  a  future  life,  but  makes  this 
life  even  more  interesting  by  its  links  with  the  life 
to  come.  We  must  not  magnify  the  Hearse,  which 
is  but  a  signal  of  the  Everlasting  Now.  It  is  not 
that,  "If  you  do  so  and  so,  you  will  get  there"  but 
"  If  you  do  right  you  are  there.'"  To  know  and  follow 
Christ  is  eternal  life. 


X  CONTENTS 

IV.  The  Transfiguration  of  Humility 41 

Applied  to  Christ  this  term  acquires  a  new  mean- 
ing. So  the  world's  idea  of  humility  is  changing 
where  Christ  is  known.  The  age  of  Celsus  con- 
trasted with  our  age.  But  Christ's  humility  re- 
quires ever  new  applications,  which  we  find  difficult. 
As  to  the  barbarian  mind  Christ  seemed  to  humiliate 
God  by  service,  so  to  the  mind  and  imagination  of 
the  modern  scientist  Natural  Law  seemed  to  lock 
God  out  of  His  world.  What  this  world  crisis  has 
taught  both  the  scientific  and  the  plain  man.  Hu- 
man efficiency  need  not  swagger;  and  God  may  hide 
Himself.  It  is  an  over-eager  reading  of  the  ways  of 
Providence,  to  expect  that  the  ultimate  right  Cause 
shall  quickly  win.    The  lesson  of  Bethlehem. 


"He  has  sounded  forth  the  trumpet  that  shall  never  call  retreat; 
He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  His  judgment-seat; 
Oh,  be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  Him!    Be  jubilant,  my  feet! 
Our  God  is  marching  on." 

Julia  Ward  Howe 

(The  Battle  Hymn  ol  the  Republic). 


Christ's  Challenge  to  Man 


CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  THE  SPIRIT  OF 

MAN 

The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage. 

— Gen.  xlvii:9. 
Thou  shalt  keep  the  feast  of  harvest. 

— Exodus  xxiii:is,  i6. 

Thou  hast  multiplied  the  nation,  and  not  increased 
the  joy:  they  joy  before  Thee  according  to  the  joy  in 
harvest,  and  as  men  rejoice  when  they  divide  the  spoil. 

— I  sat.  ix:3. 

Ye  observe  days,  and  months,  and  times,  and  years. 
I  am  afraid  of  you. 

— Gal.  x:ii. 

Hast  Thou  (O  God)  eyes  of  flesh,  and  seest  Thou  as 
man  seeth?    Are  Thy  years  as  man's  days? 

— John  x:4,  $. 

As  the  days  of  Noe,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  Man  be.  .  .  .  Then  shall  two  be  in  the  field;  the 
one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other  left.    Watch  therefore. 
— Matt.  xxiv:37,  40,  42. 

Not  to  confuse  you  in  the  reading,  I  gave  my 
texts  without  chapter  and  verse,  so  that  the  tone  and 
consensus  of  God's  Word  might  bear  upon  us  in  a 
total  impression.  Last  Thursday  we  celebrated 
our  national  Harvest  Home,  and  I  do  not  suppose 


2  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

that  it  ever  fell  at  a  more  heartsearching  time; 
though  if  ever  a  people  had  cause  to  be  thankful  for 
their  harvest  from  the  farms,  our  nation  has  it  now. 

But  yonder  in  Europe  there  is  a  harvest  of  an- 
other kind,  mixed  in  with  the  fruits  of  the  field, — 
a  ghastly  harvest  of  human  bodies,  piled  up  like 
potatoes  in  the  trenches;  and  it  requires  little 
imagination  for  our  souls  to  see  there  the  grim 
Harvester,  with  the  sickle  in  one  hand  and  the  hour- 
glass in  the  other.  "Thrust  in  Thy  sickle,  and 
reap;  for  the  time  is  come  for  Thee  to  reap;  for 
the  harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe.  And  He  that  sat 
on  the  cloud  thrust  in  His  sickle  on  the  earth; 
and  the  earth  was  reaped."  Yet,  under  God, 
even  that  awful  harvest  will  in  the  end  be  helpful 
to  mankind. 

And  here  we  sit  in  comparative  plenty,  having 
garnered  our  farm-goods.  Comfortable,  comfort- 
loving  Americans,  gathering  in  your  corn,  and  wine 
and  oil — ^yet  anxious  now  in  spite  of  them — ^ye 
observe  days  and  months,  and  times,  and  years; 
but  I  am  afraid  of  you.  I  am  afraid  lest  the  irony 
of  Isaiah  hits  us  hard:  "Thou  hast  multiplied  the 
nation  and  not  increased  the  joy.  They  joy  before 
Thee  as  men  rejoice  when  they  divide  the  spoil." 
For  have  we  not  reaped  hitherto  our  full  share  of 
the  spoils  of  war,  though  we  be  but  on  the  fringes 
yet  of  its  sufferings  and  sorrow?  Ah  me!  there  is 
another  sort  of  harvest  there,  and  soon  it  may  be 


WHAT  SPIRIT  ARE  YE  OF?  3 

here,  for  us  to  gather  if  we  will — a  harvest  of  lessons 
for  man's  immortal  soul ;  and  whether  we  be  joyful 
in  that,  or  not,  depends  on  other  operations  than 
our  gleanings  of  grain  and  oil  and  wine.  And 
already  we  have  seers,  who  see  us  through  and 
through — Recording  Angels.  Saith  one  such  in 
the  Apocalypse:  "I  know  thy  works.  I  counsel 
thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou 
mayest  be  rich;  and  white  raiment,  that  thou 
mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy 
nakedness  do  not  appear;  and  anoint  thine  eyes 
with  eyesalve,  that  thou  mayest  see." 

Bear  with  me  therefore,  brothers,  if  in  this 
Harvest  Home  a  spirit  in  my  feet  brings  me  to 
that  higher  field,  where  a  real  spiritual  warfare 
puts  us  now  in  danger  of  our  everlasting  lives. 
I  am  hearing  today  the  searching  question  of  Jesus 
Christ,  put  one  harvest  morning  on  the  plenteous 
fields  of  Palestine  to  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees, 
when  they  asked  of  Him  a  sign  from  Heaven: 
"O  ye  hypocrites,  ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the 
sky;  but  can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times? 
.  .  .  For  what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  shall  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?  What 
shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul?" 

Someone  has  said  that  a  Christian  who  is  not 
full  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  at  Christ's  feet,  is 
not  a  true  Christian.  "Rejoice  in  the  Lord  alway. 
And  again  I  say,  Rejoice."    But  know  thyself 


4  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

first,  or  thy  thanksgiving  will  be  like  the  tinkling 
of  a  cymbal.  Do  you  remember  the  passage  in  the 
Book  Joshua,  where  Achan  was  found  out  in  his 
sin,  and  found  himself  out?  and  as  he  stood  there, 
taken,  Joshua  said  to  him,  "My  son,  give,  I  pray 
thee,  glory  to  the  Lord  God?"  If  our  Harvest 
Home  this  year  puts  us  where  Achan  was,  and  we 
know  it  as  Achan  did,  then  indeed  may  we  rejoice 
with  exceeding  great  joy. 

We  residents  of  this  metropolis,  be  our  homes 
hard  or  luxurious,  are  within  easy  reach  of  the  best 
and  the  worst  in  human  life.  Even  here  some  peo- 
ple make  for  themselves  a  narrow  room,  sordid  and 
selfish,  with  short  views;  though  it  need  not  be  so, 
for  the  men  and  women  of  this  community,  do 
what  they  will  to  shorten  their  views,  have  wide 
relations:  many  have  personal  experience  of  large 
affairs,  and  the  education  to  appraise  them  at  their 
value;  and  none  of  us  can  even  walk  the  streets 
without  being  confronted  with  a  cosmopolitan 
population.  And  just  because  the  place  is  so 
large,  the  scene  so  varied,  the  population  so  diver- 
sified, within  due  limits  of  decency  and  convention 
the  resident  here  is  allowed  to  be  himself,  and  to 
go  his  way,  unnoticed  in  the  crowd,  though  the 
whole  wide  range  of  the  crowd's  tastes  and  thinking 
is  opened  out  before  him.  Intellectually  and  spir- 
itually, no  thoroughbred  American  in  New  York 
has  either  right  or  reason  to  be  cramped  at  all. 


WHAT  SPIRIT  ARE  YE  OF?  5 

His  field  is  the  world.  Just  because  we  have  this 
privilege  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  independence, 
here,  if  anywhere, — above  all  in  this  great  Cathe- 
dral— is  the  spot  to  rise  above  the  characteristic 
weakness  of  so  many  comfortable,  comfort-loving 
Americans,  to  shirk  the  heights  and  depths  of 
conduct  and  hard  thinking, — to  take  as  easily  as 
possible  their  opportunities  of  life. 

For  life's  helm  rocks  to  the  windward  and  lee, 
And  time  is  as  wind,  and  as  waves  are  we, 
And  song  is  as  foam  that  the  sea-winds  free, 
Though  the  thought  at  its  heart  is  as  deep  as  the  sea. 

A  year  ago  this  time  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Americans  were  congratulating  themselves  that 
our  President  had  "kept  us  out  of  the  war."  Now 
he  has  led  us  into  it.  Thank  God  for  that!  it  is 
one  great  blessing  of  our  Harvest  Home.  For  this 
is  a  social  world;  if  one  member  suffers,  all  do: 
if  one  nation  or  another  is  defending  the  cause  of 
righteousness  and  justice  against  sheer  materialism 
and  Unlimited  Desire,  then  every  nation  is  in  that 
war,  and  must  take  sides;  and  woe  to  those  who 
imagine  that  by  abstinence  from  downright  con- 
flict they  are  not  taking  one  side  or  the  other. 
Thank  God  we  took  our  side ! 

"Once  to  every  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment  to  decide, 
In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  for  the  good  or  evil  side, 

And  that  choice  goes  by  forever  twixt  that  darkness  and  that 
light!" 


6  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

Someone  has  remarked  that  the  men  who  are  now 
under  thirty-five  did  their  preparatory  thinking 
for  life  "in  an  age  saturated  by  sentiment;"  and 
you  and  I  can  now  see  that  this  sentiment  was 
operating  in  one  or  the  other  of  two  directions: 
the  joie  de  vivre,  childlike  delight  in  being  aHve  and 
letting  it  go  at  that:  the  Gospel  of  Amusement, 
Bread  and  Sport;  or  again,  a  mawkish  compassion 
for  those  whose  lot  is  hard.  But  ours  is  a  sterner 
time.  Instead  of  being  merely  sick  with  pity  for 
pain,  we  now  see  that  pain  is  nature's  warning  of 
danger,  and  that  we  must  be  ready  to  live  danger- 
ously. Whoso  shirks  the  danger,  even  in  thought, 
and  still  more  in  action,  is  making  himself  like  unto 
the  beasts  that  perish.  "Man  will  not  abide  in 
honour,  seeing  he  may  be  compared  unto  the 
beasts  that  perish;  this  is  the  way  of  them.  This 
is  their  foolishness.  O  consider  this,  ye  that  forget 
God."  In  the  Providential  development  of  life  on 
earth,  it  appears  that  foreknowledge  of  suffering 
and  death,  the  ability  to  take  them  to  oneself  and 
weigh  them  beforehand,  is  one  of  the  distinctions 
between  man  and  the  mere  animal.  The  animals 
exhibit  little  or  no  forethought  of  either  pain  or 
death,  and  but  a  transient  recollection  of  them 
when  seen  in  others.  The  animals  are  like  the 
larks  we  read  of  now  on  the  battlefields,  singing  as 
buoyantly  as  ever  throughout  the  booming  of 
cannons  and  the  hurtling  of  shells — the  bullet  has 


WHAT  SPIRIT  ARE  YE  OF?  7 

not  hit  the  lark  yet,  so  what  does  it  care?  But 
man,  if  he  stops  to  recollect,  by  his  experience  of 
pain  to  himself,  and  of  pain  and  death  to  others,  is 
rendered  a  different  being  from  the  animals;  so 
much  so,  that  the  vast  majority  of  recollected  men 
(bear  me  witness,  brothers)  would  be  immensely 
relieved  to  know  that  they  and  their  dear  ones 
would  not  have  to  suffer,  and  would  not  have  to  die. 
This  awful  war,  at  first  sight  composed  so  largely 
of  brutishness  and  sheer  mechanics,  has  raised,  as 
never  before  so  widely,  this  distinctly  spiritual 
issue.  All  mankind  are  brooding  over  it.  They 
are  impatient  of  the  former  generation's  Gospel  of 
Amusement.  When  somebody  proposed  that  our 
leading  Baseball  Teams  should  be  war-exempt,  it 
was  a  good  sign  that  there  was  a  general  exclama- 
tion of  disapproval  and  disgust.  Nay  more,  this 
sense  of  the  seriousness  of  life  and  duty  has  been 
roused  in  thousands  of  our  young  men  and  women 
who  a  short  time  ago  were  most  bent  on  mere 
amusement.  There  is  a  new  determination,  a 
seriousness  in  their  ardent  eyes,  a  willingness  to 
be  found  at  prayer. 

Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest, 
And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal. 

Death  certainly  is  a  great  adventure,  but  no  whit 
greater  than  was  our  entry  one  by  one  into  this  life 
from  our  mother's  womb:    hardly  greater  than 


8  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO   MAN 

the  adventure  whereby  we  pass  from  childhood 
into  manhood,  or  from  singleness  to  matrimony 
with  its  awful  risks  and  happiness,  or  again  from 
vigorous  manhood  to  the  stiller  time  of  old  age 
and  decrepitude  before  the  leap  of  death.  It  is 
all  for  each  of  us  one  great  adventure,  with  danger 
ever  present;  and  at  each  stage  of  it,  we  meet  the 
same  insistent  challenge,  Christ's  challenge,  "What 
shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul?" 

To  the  astonishment  of  many  of  us,  that  chal- 
lenge has  come  where  we  least  expected  it — at 
what  appeared  to  be  the  most  brutal  and  mechan- 
ical point  in  the  world — the  modern  battlefield; 
and  by  thousands  of  Christian  men  it  has  been 
accepted  there.  This  outcome  of  the  struggle  is 
thrillingly  depicted  by  Raemaeker  in  his  picture  of 
King  Albert  of  Belgium  confronting  the  German 
Kaiser.  With  a  sweep  of  his  arm  the  Kaiser  points 
to  devastated  Belgium,  and  exclaims,  "See,  Sir, 
you  have  lost  your  all."  But  King  Albert  an- 
swers, "No,  Sir,  we  have  not  lost  our  soul."  Thus 
materialism  vanishes,  and  the  whole  of  what  is 
seen  is  recognised  as  an  expression  of  the  unseen. 
It  is  a  triumph  of  the  intrepid  spirit.  The  same 
comes  out  when  the  medium  is  not  artistic,  but  the 
ordinary  expression  of  plain  men.  There  has  come 
to  these  battling  men  a  new  impression  of  detach- 
ment from  mere  material  things,  of  spiritual  free- 
dom, of  being  in  the  world  but  not  quite  of  the 


WHAT  SPIRIT  ARE  YE  OF?  9 

world.  Plain  soldiers,  as  their  letters  show,  cooped 
up  in  the  trenches,  have  been  learning  what  it  is  to 
feel  unhampered  by  peril  or  held  by  the  risk  of 
death.  There  and  then,  of  all  moments  in  the 
world,  it  is  borne  in  on  these  fighting  men  that  all 
the  revolting  part  of  their  business,  which  largely 
began  in  disregard  of  the  value  of  the  soul,  is  now 
proving  more  than  ever  the  importance  of  the  soul 
as  an  individual  unit  dealing  with  others  of  like 
kind.  The  whole  issue  turns  on  what  the  single 
souls  care  for  and  believe,  and  their  body  is  as 
nothing  in  exchange  for  their  soul — for  presence 
of  mind.  Dear  ones  at  home,  distractive  circum- 
stances, unwonted  scenes,  fatigue,  wounds,  hor- 
rible sights  of  anguish, — nothing  robs  these  men, 
or  their  surgeons  and  nurses,  of  their  power  of 
mental  concentration,  or  renders  them  inatten- 
tive to  the  duty  of  the  moment— their  spiritual 
task.  Neither  do  they  count  their  life  dear  unto 
themselves.  What  matters  is,  what  the  man  is 
from  moment  to  moment.  So  the  mind  is  done 
with  fluster,  and  the  spirit  with  fretting.  A  man 
takes  his  life  in  his  hands:  he  deals  with  it  simply 
and  directly.  The  doors  of  the  senses  are  guarded 
-strictly  for  the  task  in  hand.  The  man  does  not 
even  notice  when  he  is  wounded;  he  gets  used  to 
being  at  the  point  of  death,  till  it  becomes  to  him 
none  other  than  a  point  of  life;  for  his  one  idea  is, 
to  "do  the  next  thing" — that  proper  thing.    Mean- 


10  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

while  there  is  floating  in  his  mind  a  consciousness 
of  the  largeness  of  life,  of  the  momentous  and 
dignified  connections  between  the  small  individual 
and  the  great  beyond — the  great  Cause — so  that 
no  individual  effort  is  unimportant.  Not  by  me, 
not  on  my  account,  shall  the  Great  Cause  suffer. 

Act,  act  in  the  living  present, 
Heart  within,  and  God  o'erhead ! 

For  at  least  a  generation  following  this  war  that 
will  be  one  influence  which  thousands  of  the  sur- 
vivors shall  bring  back  to  their  respective  homes 
and  nations.  It  is  one  part  of  the  challenge  of 
Jesus  Christ  accepted,  and  imparting  to  those  who 
accept  it  a  new  quality  of  the  inner  life,  a  new 
ethical  energy.  Politics,  business,  literature,  the 
Churches — all  shall  show  the  effects  of  it.  So 
God  the  Heavenly  Father  brings  good  out  of  evil, 
and  turns  the  fierceness  of  men  to  His  praise. 
Thank  God  for  that  at  our  Harvest  Home. 


But  the  challenge  of  Jesus  is  not  confined  to 
those  who  receive  it  on  the  battlefield.  It  is  coming 
also  to  us  behind  the  lines.  If  some  soldiers,  in 
their  carnage,  learn  thus  to  live  the  life  of  inde- 
pendent personal  souls,  why  not  we? 

This  is  Advent  Season,  when  we  make  ready  to 
celebrate  the  coming  of  Jesus, — the  most  spiritual 


WHAT  SPIRIT  ARE  YE  OF?  11 

Person  that  ever  wore  the  form  of  man.  And 
what  those  mortal  men  that  I  just  spoke  of — those 
battling  brothers  of  ours  fighting  for  our  cause — 
have  had  as  their  experience  of  the  real  essential 
force  of  human  life  even  in  abnormal  conditions — 
Christ  at  His  Coming  exhibited  the  same;  and  for 
thirty-two  years  before  the  final  year  His  exhibi- 
tion of  it  was  in  what  we  call  the  quiet  ways  of 
the  normal  life  of  man.  For  thirty  years  He  lived 
what  we  call  the  "Quiet  Life,"  mostly  at  Nazareth 
as  a  Carpenter;  followed  by  two  years  of  a  more 
conspicuous  ministry,  more  evidently  arduous  and 
fuller  of  opposition,  until  the  painful  end.  Prob- 
ably the  proportions  of  the  normal  and  abnormal 
life  were  about  the  same  for  Christ  as  for  the  rest 
of  us  before  we  go  hence  and  are  no  more  seen; 
for  He  tasted  what  it  is  for  a  man  to  live  and  die, 
and  He  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are. 
In  His  life,  as  in  ours,  there  was  the  normal  and 
the  abnormal,  the  exciting  and  the  commonplace; 
and  in  both  Christ  acquitted  Himself  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  manner:  as  a  truly  spiritual 
Person,  possessed  of  God  and  conscious  of  that 
fact.  Evil  spirits,  "principahties  and  powers, 
mustering  their  unseen  array,"  waited  on  Him 
as  they  do  on  us;  but  Christ  was  always  on  His 
guard:  He  exchanged  nothing  for  His  soul. 
We  must  follow  His  example.  Many  people 
are  being  prompted  by  this  war   to  throw  all 


12  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

their  spiritual  helps, — what  they  call  ''their 
ideal  agencies" — education,  international  law,  fra- 
ternized commerce,  even  Christianity  itself — to 
throw  all  these  into  the  scrap  heap.  Christ  would 
not  have  us  use  this  crisis  so.  He  would  have  us 
use  it  to  magnify  the  human  soul  for  time  and  for 
eternity.  He  would  have  us  exchange  nothing  for 
our  souls.  And  His  challenge  to  us,  in  our  com- 
paratively normal  life  even  in  war-time,  is  pre- 
cisely what  He  makes  to  our  soldiers  in  the  trenches. 
The  first  thing  which  they  find  there  is  the  inde- 
pendence of  soul  that  makes  the  difference  between 
brute  and  man;  and  here  in  our  more  normal  cir- 
cumstances, we  can  find  the  same.  But  when  we 
find  that,  the  next  question  is.  Are  we  then  inde- 
pendent with  Christ,  or  independent  of  Him? 
For  either  we  can  be;  and  the  challenge  of  Christ 
goes  even  that  far. 

You  and  I,  with  our  independent  spirits,  have 
got  to  pass  our  private  judgment  on  the  objective, 
historic  fact  of  this  war,  not  by  itself,  but  coupled 
with  another  historic  fact;  and  the  fruit  we 
gather  from  both  together  will  be  our  Harvest 
Home.  There  is  nothing  that  has  happened  in 
this  war;  nothing  that  ever  led  men  to  doubt 
the  Fatherhood  and  strong  Love  of  God,  that 
did  not  befall  Christ  in  His  own  time  and  Person. 
Round  the  Figure  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  there 
closed  in  for  exhibition  what  was  as  bad  as  the 


WHAT  SPIRIT  ARE  YE  OF?  13 

worst  that  we  see  now.  Everything  that  has 
ever  moved  men  to  doubt  God's  love  and  power; 
every  pain  of  body  and  anguish  of  mind;  every 
experience  of  sardonic  and  bestial  malignity,  so 
far  as  the  essence  of  it  goes;  every  taste  of  the  cup 
of  fickleness  and  ingratitude  and  selfishness,  and 
of  the  shortsighted  looseness  of  mind,  that  has 
turned  some  philanthropists  into  cynics  and  made 
some  men  go  mad, — all  this,  even  this,  befell  our 
Lord.  Yet  He  maintained  His  conviction  and 
asserted  His  personal  knowledge  that  man  is  a 
spirit  in  touch  with  the  Father  of  spirits;  that  God 
is  Love,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all;  and  that 
He  is  a  re  warder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him. 
Christ  disappeared  for  three  short  days  in  what  we 
call  death,  and  reappeared  with  the  same  serene 
joy  of  perfect  Sonship :  before  and  after  death  the 
same  smile  of  the  soul  was  in  His  eyes  and  on  His 
lips.  ''Peace  I  leave  with  you.  My  Peace  I  give 
unto  you."  Brothers,  will  we  garner  that  for  our 
Harvest  Home?  Few  thoughtful  persons  of  good- 
will can  look  out  on  this  world  today  and  not 
perceive  that  it  is  no  mere  panorama  of  material 
mechanics — of  stocks  and  stones  and  gesticulating 
bodies:  that  there  is  a  spiritual  issue  in  which  we 
partake.  But  Christ's  challenge  goes  deeper  and 
higher.  He  would  lift  our  spirits  to  confidence  in 
God  the  Father;  and  in  that  sense  Christ  would  be 
Captain  of  our  souls. 


14  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

Any  person  who  awaits  the  outcome  of  this  war, 
or  of  some  interior  crisis  of  his  own  soul,  before  he 
will  settle  in  his  mind  and  will  whether  Christianity 
is  valid  or  not,  is  like  the  old  doubter  in  Galilee, 
who  demanded  of  Jesus  another  miracle  before 
he  would  believe  on  Him.  And  to  the  modern 
men,  even  as  to  the  Galilean,  the  patient  Jesus  is 
offering  the  same  scrutinizing  testimony,  saying, 
"Because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the 
Spirit  of  His  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying.  Father, 
Father." 

"  Speak  to  Him,  then,  for  He  hears,  and  Spirit  with  spirit  can  meet. 
Closer  is  He  than  breathing,  nearer  than  hands  or  feet." 

"Then  shall  two  be  in  the  field;  the  one  shall  be 
taken,  and  the  other  left.  Two  women  shall  be 
grinding  at  the  mill;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and 
the  other  left.  Behold,  I  have  told  you  before. 
Watch  therefore." 

"Turn  Thou  us,  0  good  Lord,  and  so  shall  we 
be  turned!" 


II 

WHAT  SPOILS  THE  HUMAN  SPIRIT:  PRIDE 

KULTUR   AS  AN   ObJECT-LESSON 

And  when  Saul  inquired  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  an- 
swered him  not,  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim,  nor 
by  prophets. 

— /  Sam.  xxviii:6. 

Unless  it  be  Judas  Iscariot,  there  is  hardly  in 
the  whole  Bible  a  gloomier  tragedy  than  this  of 
Saul — that  unhappy  king,  so  splendid  and  attractive 
in  his  prosperity,  so  ruined  at  the  last.  *  How  the 
young  men  and  maidens  admired  him  as  he  stood 
a  head  taller  than  the  applauding  multitude, 
modest,  manly,  magnanimous,  on  the  morning 
when  Samuel  anointed  him !  What  meanest  beggar 
would  have  changed  places  with  him,  when  in 
disguise  he  skulked  at  midnight  round  the  hill  to 
the  witch's  cave?  And  when  from  that  woman 
with  a  familiar  spirit  he  got  Samuel's  message,  as 

*  This  opening  passage  of  my  sermon  is  a  reminiscence  of  one 
of  Canon  Farrar's.  Twenty-one  years  ago  I  acknowledged  my 
indebtedness  to  him  in  a  sermon  I  preached  at  St.  John's  Church, 
Washington;  but  I  do  not  know  which  book  of  his  I  referred  to, 
so  I  cannot  now  make  my  reference  definite. 

15 


16  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

from  the  lips  of  a  ghost— from  Samuel  who  had 
been  the  friend  of  his  youth  and  might  have  blessed 
his  reign — there  was  a  crash  on  the  rocky  floor,  as 
Saul  swooned  and  fell  straightway  his  full  length 
upon  the  earth.  How  did  the  sun,  which  had 
risen  gloriously,  go  down  while  it  was  yet  day! 
Next  morning  he  lost  the  battle,  and  was  sorely 
wounded  by  the  archers,  as  the  tide  of  Israel's 
carnage  rolled  towards  him  from  Gilboa's  heights. 
His  people  were  defeated:  his  brave  sons  slain. 
What  was  life  to  him  any  longer?  Since  his  faith- 
ful armour-bearer  would  not  ease  him  of  his  life,  he 
fell  on  his  own  sword.  Then  the  foul  Amalakite, 
plundering  the  slain,  took  the  crown  from  the 
kingly  forehead  and  the  bracelet  from  the  arm; 
and  all  that  remained  of  the  beauty  of  Israel  was  a 
grinning  skull  among  Dagon's  trophies,  a  suit  of 
riven  armour  in  the  house  of  Ashtaroth,  and 
a  few  bones  bleaching  in  the  sunlight  on  Bethshan's 
walls.  Yet  in  all  that  tragedy  this  is  the  most 
tragic:  that  "when  Saul  inquired  of  the  Lord,  the 
Lord  answered  Mm  not,  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by 
Urim,  nor  by  prophets."  Outward  troubles  may 
be  borne.  Threatened  by  shipwreck,  we  can  breast 
the  storm.  Even  such  an  unspeakable  calamity 
as  that  at  Halifax  three  days  ago  can  be  endured 
by  our  manhood  and  our  constancy.  All  our 
experience,  emphasized  these  past  three  years,  has 
taught   us   that   earthly   hopes   are   utterly  pre- 


KULTUR  AS  AN  OBJECT-LESSON  17 

carious,  and  the  most  vigorous  youth  may  be 
snapped  short.  But  faithfulness  feeds  on  suffering, 
and  courage  does  not  die.  To  be  vanquished  in 
battle,  to  be  superseded  in  power,  to  see  popularity 
crumble;  to  watch  the  rise  of  another  while  one's 
own  work  wanes ;  to  experience  even  that  sinking 
of  the  heart  which  is  caused  by  failure  after  hon- 
ourable effort — all  this  Saul  had  to  bear,  and  all 
this  can  be  borne.  But  to  be  in  utter  perplexity 
of  soul;  to  stagger  blindly  to  a  spiritual  precipice; 
to  have  one's  prayers  flung  back  to  one  and  know 
they  deserve  no  answer  because  God  has  not  been 
really  in  one's  prayers — that  is  anguish  worse  than 
death.  If  God  be  with  us,  we  can  grope  in  the 
darkness  and  find  His  Hand.  Saul  of  Tarsus,  the 
Apostle  Paul,  when  he  had  nobody  likeminded  and 
in  prison  was  condemned  to  death,  could  write  the 
exultant  letters  that  enhearten  us  to  this  day. 
But  when  Saul,  the  King  of  Israel,  inquired  of  the 
Lord,  the  Lord  answered  him  not.  Ah!  that  is  to 
be  desolate. 

What  was  the  cause  of  it?  Pride:  spiritual  pride. 
Brethren,  we  are  dwelling,  these  Advent  after- 
noons, on  the  essentially  spiritual  nature  of  human 
life,  and  how  this  has  been  brought  home  to  people 
— ^young  and  old — in  what  one  would  have  thought 
to  be  a  most  unlikely  way:  the  way  of  war,  where 
the  brute  and  the  machine  appear  at  first  to  dom- 
inate and  decide  the  issue.    But  in  this  history  of 


18  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

Saul,  who  was  himself  a  man  of  war,  we  have 
exhibited,  at  the  very  centre  of  the  spiritual  Hfe, 
what  spoiled  it— spoiled  it  in  peace-time  equally 
with  war-time — Pride. 

Time  was  when  God  was  really  in  Saul's  thoughts, 
and  therefore  kept  him  humble.  Saul  recognized 
himself  to  be  God's  representative — set  by  God  and 
anointed  by  Samuel  to  be  King  over  Israel.  He 
often  worshipped  God,  and  spoke  of  Him,  and  wel- 
comed His  messengers  and  performed  His  behests 
faithfully,  and  fought  God's  enemies  at  all  risks. 
Yet  by  and  by  it  was  all  in  vain,  for  Saul  let  his 
mind  be  changed.  There  were  forewarnings.  God 
sent  prophets  to  him,  such  as  Samuel,  and  sweet 
singers  like  the  shepherd  David,  whose  psalms 
were,  as  we  know,  the  very  voice  of  praise  and 
prayer.  But  self,  not  God,  was  in  the  citadel  of 
his  soul.  It  was  the  devil's  sin,  and  it  had  the 
devil's  punishment.  And  it  is  written  for  our 
admonition  in  the  inspired  chronicle.  Read  it  for 
yourselves,  and  ponder.  Notice  the  subtle  begin- 
nings and  the  insidious  degrees  of  it,  and  ponder 
them.  Was  there  ever  a  better  opportunity  for 
us  to  take  the  lesson  home  than  this,  when  a 
momentous  year  is  drawing  towards  its  close,  and 
the  birthday  of  the  Christ-child  is  near,  Whose 
cradle  was  the  very  shrine  of  humility?  Thereafter 
take  this  verse  of  the  Psalm  we  so  often  say,  and 
put  it  this  time  directly  to  yourselves:    "All  my 


KULTUR  AS  AN  OBJECT-LESSON  19 

fresh  springs  are  in  Thee."  Possibly  that  was  one 
of  the  sweet  songs  that  David  sang  on  his  harp 
before  Saul,  in  the  days  when  there  was  yet  hope 
for  him.  There  is  hope  for  us  now;  but  are  the 
springs  of  our  being  in  God,  or  in  ourselves?  Is 
God  our  centre?  Or  are  we  self-centred?  Let 
us  not  be  disappointed  of  our  hope. 

Brethren,  we  should  end  this  old  year  and  begin 
the  new  with  resolution — with  good  resolves,  wise 
plans  and  earnest  hopes.  If  in  God  we  put  unre- 
servedly our  trust,  everything — our  friends,  home, 
Church,  business — will  have  fresh  zest  for  us; 
and  not  least  our  war-work.  We  shall  be  gentler, 
kindlier,  braver,  more  vigorous,  more  buoyant; 
for  God  can  Hft  us  up  forever!  Yet  even  if  it  be 
that  our  spirit  is  not  altogether  spoiled;  if  we  are 
not  as  yet  quite  self-centred;  nevertheless  there  is 
an  old  Greek  motto  which  still  holds  good,  and 
which  prepared  men  for  Jesus  Christ:  "Know 
thyself."  It  is  not  the  superficial  thrill  of  worldly 
occupation,  the  dignity  of  being  busy,  the  trap- 
pings of  a  lively  community,  the  whirl  of  a  great 
city;  it  is  not  even  the  gravity  of  a  political  crisis 
and  the  din  of  war  that  constitute  the  vital  interest 
of  men's  conduct  here.  The  vital  interest  lies 
where  Christ  put  it :  What  shall  a  man,  a  Church, 
a  nation,  give  in  exchange  for  the  soul?  And  when 
we  are  tempted  to  make  such  exchange,  it  is  self- 
knowledge  that  helps  to  bar  the  way,  convincing 


20  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

US  that  God  alone  is  our  shield  and  our  exceeding 
great  reward.  At  that  crisis  to  be  self-deceived  is 
awful;  and  spiritual  pride  comes  before  that  fall. 
Oh,  to  be  simply  desirous,  at  the  heart  of  all,  to 
do  God's  will !  How  rare  that  is.  And  because  it 
is  so  rare,  true  happiness,  true  power,  are  also 
rare. 


There  has  been  in  our  time  a  stupendous  exhi- 
bition of  spiritual  pride,  individual  and  national. 
Mankind  never  saw  it  bulk  so  large.  And  man- 
kind are  passing  judgment  on  it:  we  must:  no 
other  course  was  left  to  us :  we  were  pushed  to  the 
wall  and  compelled  to  express  our  opinion,  and  to 
act  accordingly  in  open  war.  As  the  Personality 
and  character  of  Jesus  Christ  have  grown  into  the 
consciousness  of  modern  men,  over  against  that 
another  character — a  horribly  distorted  human 
nature — has  loomed  larger  and  larger.  Our  former 
Minister  to  Holland,  Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,* 
who  lived  very  near  to  this  distorted  embodiment 
of  human  nature  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit,  was 
speaking  the  other  evening  at  the  annual  dinner  of 
Union  College  alumni.  This  was  his  terse,  grave 
summary  of  what  he  saw  face  to  face.  "The 
German  people  are  waging  this  war  on  three  false 
assumptions:  first,  that  God  chose  Germany  to 
*  Reported  in  the  New  York  Times,  December  14,  191 7. 


KULTUR  AS  AN  OBJECT-LESSON  21 

dominate  the  world;  second,  that  He  chose  the 
House  of  Hohenzollern  to  dominate  the  German 
people;  and  third,  that  the  way  to  attain  domina- 
tion is  by  force."  The  New  Testament  fore- 
saw it  and  called  it  Anti-Christ;  and  at  last  it  has 
shown  itself  as  evidently  that, — to  the  amazement 
of  mankind.  Just  now  it  styles  itself  by  that  good 
old  title,  Kultur;  and  it  has  not  hesitated  to  claim 
that  Christ  was  mistaken:  that  probably  there  is  a 
God,  but  Christ's  presentation  of  Him  was  mis- 
leading. As  we  look  back  a  little  it  seems  strange 
to  us — now  that  the  mask  is  dropped  from  this 
character — that  for  more  than  a  generation  most 
of  us  were  fascinated  by  this  so-called  Kultur. 
We  thought  its  ways  so  good,  so  useful  to  the 
world — the  very  thing  we  needed.  To  use  the 
parlance  of  the  street,  when  Kultur  had  a  chance  it 
really  seemed  "to  get  there":  to  touch  the  goal  of 
efficiency — of  the  exploitation  of  the  earth  and  of 
human  faculty,  which  is  the  ideal  of  political 
economy.  It  really  appeared  to  have  the  saving 
spirit,  and  reminded  us  of  Christ's  Sermon  on  the 
Mount:  "Gather  up  the  fragments,  that  nothing 
be  lost."  We  little  guessed  how  much  would  soon 
be  lost  by  it,  even  of  material  things,  not  to  men- 
tion souls!  for  it  had  made  us  ashamed  of  our  un- 
regulated, discursive,  individualistic  methods — 
at  any  rate  as  we  appHed  them.  But  the  mask  has 
fallen;  nor  is  this  the  first  time  that  Satan  clothed 


22  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

himself  as  an  angel  of  light,  deceiving,  if  it  were 
possible,  the  very  elect.     For 

Oh,  the  little  less,  and  how  much  it  is ! 
And  the  little  more,  and  what  worlds  away! 

Even  if  the  methods  were  all  good, — which  they 
are  not, — we  see  now  that  they  are  poisoned  at 
their  spiritual  source,  so  that  their  superficial 
efficiency  but  renders  them  more  deadly.  With 
the  domineering  spirit  in  control,  rather  than  the 
guiding,  persuasive  spirit  of  Jesus,  the  final  fruits 
of  Kultur  are  not  conservative  but  destructive; 
and  lo!  physical,  intellectual,  spiritual  destruction 
are  all  around  us  now,  along  with  an  open,  cynical 
disregard  of  high  spiritual  ideals.  If  man  or 
nation  will  not  consent  to  let  their  soul  be  dra- 
gooned and  commandeered,  "down  with  it,  down 
with  it,  even  to  the  ground."  Do  it,  or  die. 
Might  is  Right,  and  be  it  so.  This  hard  spirit, 
this  time-spirit  of  world-domination  is  what  Christ 
withstood  in  His  temptation:  "Get  thee  behind 
Me,  Satan."  Now,  become  aggressive,  Satan 
has  pushed  us  Christians  to  the  wall.  We  had  no 
option  but  to  fight  him,  as  one  fights  a  maniac. 
It  is  war  to  the  death,  not  for  world-power,  but  for 
freedom  to  be  children  of  God  and  disciples  of 
Jesus.  It  is  war  to  the  death;  and  after  death  the 
judgment.  Aye,  the  Judgment  Day.  You  can- 
not, God  does  not,  judge  mere  stocks  and  stones 


KULTUR  AS  AN  OBJECT-LESSON  23 

and  guns  and  gesticulating  bodies.  God  judges 
the  spirits  of  the  fighting  men;  and  now,  if  ever, 
we  are  wrestling  with  evil  spirits  for  the  cause  of 
God  and  Christ.  Our  mistakes,  our  sins,  are 
many.  They  weaken  our  ability  to  serve  the 
great  Cause.  Many  of  us  may  well  inquire  whether, 
in  past  days,  there  has  not  been  in  ourselves  also 
something  of  the  temper  of  Anti-Christ.  But 
poor  soldiers  of  the  true  Christ  though  we  be,  our 
merciful  Heavenly  Father  has  made  the  issue  plain, 
and  shown  us  what  to  do.  Therefore  we  com- 
mend our  bodies  and  our  spirits  unto  Him.  "Be- 
hold I  saw  all  souls,  small  and  great,  standing 
before  God;  and  the  books  were  opened:  and 
another  book  was  opened,  which  is  the  book  of 
life."  Our  Lord  Jesus,  in  His  own  recorded  words, 
described  our  situation  exactly:  "Woe  unto  the 
world  because  of  offences!  for  it  must  needs  be  that 
ofifences  come,  but  woe  to  the  man  by  whom  the 
ofifence  cometh!"  This  offence  cometh  from 
Kultur. 

God's  way  now  is  to  give  us  an  object-lesson; 
and  He  gives  it  from  outside  the  United  States  of 
America  because  here,  thank  God,  our  poHtical 
life  does  not  favour  the  conditions  that  would 
supply  the  materials  for  this  particular  lesson. 
Let  me  illustrate  from  an  instance  where  our 
conditions  do  supply  us  with  an  awful  object  les- 
son of  another  kind.     I  mean  our  national  problem 


24  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

of  intemperance.*  Time  was  when  even  in 
America  the  upper  classes  were  as  intemperate  with 
liquor  as  the  lower  classes.  Now  that  is  not  so. 
Hence  if  you  go  to  a  Sunday  School  of  the  upper 
classes  and  describe  a  drunkard  to  them,  they  are 
apt  to  laugh;  whereas  in  a  school  of  children  from 
the  slums  there  would  hardly  be  a  smile  on  any 
face.  And  the  reason  is  that  your  children  have 
not  seen  you  drunk:  they  only  think  of  it  as  a 
funny  experience  that  in  the  streets  they  some- 
times see;  but  the  slum  children  in  their  tene- 
ment houses — often  in  their  own  homes — know 
what  the  curse  of  intemperance  is,  and  they 
therefore  do  not  smile.  Somewhat  so  we  Amer- 
icans have  had  no  near  and  unavoidable  object- 
lesson  of  what  it  is  to  live  under  a  tyrant,  or  an 
autocracy  which  acts  as  if  Might  were  Right,  and 
whose  mind  is  set  on  dominating  the  world.  But 
now  God  is  giving  us  Americans  an  object-lesson 
in  this  from  across  the  seas,  and  as  it  is  brought 
home  to  us  we  smile  no  longer  at  Kultur. 

Yet  there  is  a  danger  that  arises,  not  so  much 
outside  of  us  as  in  the  citadel  of  our  own  souls, 
and  the  nature  of  it  is  the  same  as  that  whereby 
Saul  fell.    It   makes  me   tremble  when    I    hear 

*  See  Dr.  Leighton  Parks's  sermon  on  Service,  p.  23.  His 
sermon  was  published  after  my  sermon  was  preached,  but  before 
it  went  to  press;  so  that  I  am  able  to  borrow,  and  gratefully  to 
insert  here,  Dr.  Parks's  timely  illustration  for  my  own  theme. 


KULTUR  AS  AN  OBJECT-LESSON  25 

and  read  the  expressions  of  self-satisfaction  and 
self-confidence,  when  mention  is  made  of  what 
America  is  doing  and  has  done.  There  is  too  much 
bumptiousness,  as  if  we  Americans  "know  it  all": 
too  much  reference  to  the  grand,  decisive  part  that 
America  is  going  to  play  in  "making  the  world 
safe  for  Democracy."  How  about  making  Democ- 
racy safe  for  the  world?  Neither  Democracy  nor 
America  are  going  to  be  decisive  in  this  war  unless 
they  have  a  humble  mind,  and  think  soberly  of 
themselves.  Under  God,  America  is  called  to  a 
great  part  in  this  world- transaction ;  but  "know 
thyself"  first,  and  never  dream  that  thou  canst 
be  without  God  in  the  world.  And  don't  dwell  on 
what  America  shall  get  out  of  it.  Let  your  mind 
rather  dwell  on  what  God,  the  great  and  pure, 
shall  get;  though  even  so  we  are  going  into  this 
war  to  get  something  for  ourselves  and  for  the 
world.  We  are  going  to  get  freedom.  Would 
that  our  Pacifists  could  see  that  what  we  are  fight- 
ing for  is  a  vital  part  of  them  and  of  all  of  us — as 
much  a  part  of  us  Americans  as  our  mother  and 
our  home:  freedom  for  our  spirit,  mind  and  body. 
But  true  freedom  implies  humility.*  As  Secre- 
tary Lane  said,  in  his  Report  published  in  last 
evening's  newspapers,  "Our  status  in  this  war 
gives  us  a  place  of  moral  ascendency,  from  which, 

*  Cp.  the  phrase  of  our  P.  B.  Collect:  "Whose  service  is  perfect 
freedom." 


26  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

if  we  he  great  enough  to  he  humble,  we  can  be  real 
masters  of  men,  conquerors  of  the  invisible  king- 
dom of  man's  mind."  But  for  that,  brothers,  we 
must  first  acknowledge  the  mastery  of  God,  and 
bow,  not  our  knees  merely,  but  our  inmost  souls 
to  Him. 


I  have  just  mentioned  Purity;  and  I  did  so 
vaguely,  generally,  as  one  must.  But  you  know 
what  I  refer  to.  Nothing  so  bars  the  soul  to  God 
as  impurity;  for  did  not  Christ  say,  in  one  of  His 
Beatitudes,  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for 
they  shall  see  God"? 

Have  you  read  the  measured,  grave,  veiled  words 
in  which  Bishop  Lawrence,  of  Massachusetts, 
referred  last  week  to  the  canker  of  vice  that  is 
threatening  to  eat  up  the  physical  vitality  and  the 
spiritual  worth  of  our  young  soldiers,  even  here  in 
the  camps  near  home,  and  still  more  yonder  at 
the  European  front?  Perhaps  you  and  I  cannot 
do  much  about  that  directly.  That  rests  in  other 
hands.  But  O  fathers,  mothers,  sisters,  friends — 
we  who  stay  behind — how  about  our  own  home-life 
and  our  social  life?  How  about  the  thoughtless 
innuendoes  of  our  gossip,  the  reckless  stories,  the 
questionable  dress,  the  double  lives  we  know  of? 
And  how  our  young  folks  are  allowed  by  their 
parents  to  touch  the  verge  of  impropriety!    Can 


KULTUR  AS  AN  OBJECT-LESSON  27 

our  home-life  and  our  society  pass  unscathed  when 
Christ  utters  His  indictment:  "Whoso  looketh  on  a 
woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery 
with  her  already  in  his  heart?"  Beware  of  "the 
foxes,  the  little  foxes,  that  spoil  the  vines."  And 
O  brave  young  men,  who  are  risking,  sacrificing 
your  lives  for  us,  for  God's  sake  don't  sacrifice  your 
purity!  Go  into  the  war  to  get  and  keep  your 
purity.  For  some  of  you  that  may  be  the  hardest 
fight  of  all. 

I  will  not  go  on.  When  one  speaks  of  the  cit- 
adel of  the  soul,  no  other  human  being  can  pre- 
sume to  enter,  or  expose  what  he  suspects. 
In  that  inmost  court  it  is  enough  for  each  of  us  to 
try  to  take  heed  unto  himself;  but  there  are  other 
courts  where  we  gather  together,  and  where  we 
share  a  common  responsibihty.  Let  us  endeavour, 
this  Advent,  "in  all  our  ways  to  remember  God, 
and  He  shall  direct  our  paths."  Let  us  resist  in 
ourselves  the  beginnings  of  evil,  and  not  be  self- 
deceived  and  blasted  by  spiritual  pride.  For  in 
that  case,  even  if  we  inquire  of  the  Lord,  He  will 
not  answer.  When  we  assemble  this  coming 
Christmas  at  the  Christchild's  cradle,  and  like 
the  Wise  Men  kneel  down  there,  pray  God  for  our 
nation,  for  our  youth,  for  each  of  us,  that  in  this 
day  when,  as  never  before,  we  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  spiritual  power,  it  may  not  be  spoiled, 
but  may  be  clothed  and  crowned  with  humility. 


Ill 

LAYING  HOLD  ON  ETERNAL  LIFE 

O  man  of  God  .  .  .  lay  hold  on  eternal  life. 

— I  Timothy  vi:ii,  12. 

On  previous  Sunday  afternoons  we  dwelt  on  the 
noticeable  fact  that  to  many  serious  men,  and  to 
some  who  were  not  serious  before,  the  essentially 
spiritual  nature  of  our  present  Hfe  has  been  em- 
phasised in  the  last  three  years.  Whatever  men 
may  be  searching  for,  the  great,  just  God  is  search- 
ing and  discerning  the  spirits  of  mankind;  and 
very  many  have  recognised  that  we  are  being 
searched  by  Him.  That  is  one  sign  of  our  times. 
It  is  more  and  more  perceived  that  in  this  awful 
time  the  community  that  will  be  defeated,  if  there 
be  defeat,  will  be  the  town  of  Bunyan's  allegory — 
the  town  of  Mansoul. 

"One  watchword  through  our  armies, 
One  answer  from  our  lands — 
No  dealings  with  Diabolus 
So  long  as  Mansoul  stands."  * 

So  much  for  the  Hfe  that  now  is.  But  how  about 
the  next  life?     What  do  we  know  of  that?    This 

*  The  Holy  War.  Poem  by  Rudyard  Kipling,  in  Christmas 
number  of  Land  and  Water. 

28 


GRASP  THE  ETERNAL  NOW  29 

question  also  is  being  asked,  and  it  is  in  natural 
sequence  to  the  other.  If  we  can  no  longer  sepa- 
rate the  everlasting  life  of  spirits  from  the  brief, 
elusive,  brittle  fragment  of  it  that  is  spent  in  the 
form  of  flesh:  if  "temporal"  and  "eternal"  are  no 
such  antithesis  as  we  used  to  make  of  them:  if 
it  is  as  spirits  that  we  live  here,  and  as  spirits  that 
we  pass  beyond:  if  in  these  gruesome  days  the 
consciousness  of  eternity  is  really  entering  a  Httle 
into  our  daily  habits  of  thought  and  feeling,  while 
sanguinary  death  is  taking  so  many  that  we  care 
for  into  that  near,  next  world :  if  the  vast  majority 
of  our  human  race  of  spirits  are  already  yonder, 
and  just  now  our  youth  are  to  be  gathered  thither 
in  milKons,  while  it  is  mostly  we  older  ones  that 
linger  here  a  Httle  longer — then  it  hardly  seems 
rational  to  suppose  that,  if  there  be  a  God,  and  if 
He,  as  Christ  declared  and  died  to  show  us,  is  the 
Heavenly  Father  Who  careth  for  His  own,  there  and 
here — it  hardly  seems  rational  that  He  would  leave 
us  in  ignorance  of  the  links  of  daily  practice  that 
unite  our  Hfe  to  theirs.  What,  then,  do  we  know 
of  the  Hfe  we  have  to  Hve  here  that  ties  and  iden- 
tifies it  with  the  life  they  have  to  Hve  there?  That 
is  the  question  which  thousands  are  asking,  some 
here  and  in  this  Cathedral;  some  on  the  battle- 
fields. Are  we  not  told  that  the  Tommies  never 
say  that  their  comrade  has  died?  He  has  "passed 
on."    They  will  not  admit  that  there  is  a  break 


30  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

in  the  life- tie  that  binds  them.  One  long,  un- 
broken line  of  them  is  simply  "passing  on." 

In  his  letter  to  Timothy,  which  suppKed  my 
text,  Paul  was  evidently  brooding  over  the  same 
question;  and  he  has  much  to  say  about  it.  An 
old  man,  under  suspicion  from  the  powers  that  be, 
he  knows  that  he  has  but  a  precarious  hold  on  the 
present  Hfe.  So  to  his  favourite  disciple  he  speaks 
of  the  next  world,  to  which  he  feels  so  near.  His 
language  is  solemn,  but  no  more  so  than  when  he 
spoke  of  usual  matters;  and  what  he  says  is  with- 
out a  trace  of  that  fear  of  the  unknown  which,  in 
any  connection,  troubles  most  men.  Not  only  is 
there  no  fear  in  Paul's  language,  but  there  is  the 
ring  of  confidence  and  joy.  Paul's  mind  is  neither 
cowed  nor  clouded  by  the  mystery  of  the  next 
world,  by  his  ignorance  of  its  conditions.  On  the 
contrary  he  is  sure  that  he  knows  a  great  deal 
about  it;  so  much  so,  that  he  even  urges  Timothy, 
who  has  the  zest  of  the  present  strong  in  him — as 
it  ought  to  be — Paul  urges  this  young  man  to  lay 
hold  now  on  that  eternal  life,  as  if  what  is  after 
death  were  even  now  within  Timothy's  reach  and 
ken.    What  does  Paul  mean? 

I  can  hardly  lead  up  better  to  the  answer  than 
by  an  illustration  lately  afforded  to  those  who 
stop  and  think.  Four  years  ago,  in  the  Master's 
Court  of  the  Charterhouse,  London,  the  Eliza- 
bethan Stage  Society  produced  a  play  of  great 


GRASP  THE  ETERNAL  NOW  31 

interest.  The  same  play  was  produced  in  New 
York  three  years  ago,  just  before  the  war  came, 
and  under  our  very  eyes  transferred  the  drama 
from  the  stage  to  the  battlefield.  At  that  point 
the  actors  became  soldiers ;  but  for  those  who  have 
spiritual  eyes  the  substance  of  the  action  was  hardly 
different  at  all. 

In  those  Elizabethan  days  the  people  were  fond 
of  allegory.  They  Hked  to  have  the  influences 
that  press  on  human  life  so  personified  on  the  stage 
as  to  search  the  spectator's  soul  and  purge  him  for 
a  while.  So  the  playwrights  called  their  acted 
allegories  "Moralities."  The  MoraHty  chosen  for 
the  antiquarian  revival  that  I  refer  to  was  en- 
titled "Everyman";  and  as  he  watched  the 
progress  of  the  piece,  carefully  set  forth  with  the 
old-time  furniture,  the  modern  spectator  was 
transported  into  the  mediaeval  mood. 

Two  platforms  stood  in  an  open  court,  backed 
by  windows,  in  the  Perpendicular  style,  of  the  great 
hall  of  the  Charterhouse.  To  the  left  was  a  small 
stage,  with  simple  scenery — a  large  chair  in  the 
middle,  two  doors  at  the  back,  a  spinning-wheel 
on  the  left,  and  two  candles  on  the  right;  and 
behind  the  spinning-wheel  and  candles  were  cur- 
tains. At  the  back  of  the  stage  was  an  upper 
stage,  to  represent  Heaven.  The  other  platform, 
on  the  right  of  the  audience,  was  a  heptagonal 
structure,  painted  for  stonework,  and  approached 


32  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

by  steps.  The  two  sides  away  from  the  audience 
were  continued  up  for  the  background  with  imi-, 
tation  windows.  Above  was  a  canopy,  blue  and 
starred.  The  floor  was  open  in  the  middle  like  a 
grave. 

The  Play,  "Everyman,"  began  with  a  prologue, 
spoken  by  a  solemn  messenger.  He  then  retired, 
and  the  action  began  with  the  appearance  of  God, 
majestic,  with  a  golden  crown,  on  the  upper  stage. 
With  uplifted  hands  He  spoke  of  the  careless  Hfe 
of  men,  and  called  on  Death,  His  "Mighty  Mes- 
senger," to  summon  Everyman  to  bring  without 
delay  his  reckoning  and  account.  Then  God 
withdrew.  Death,  on  the  lower  stage,  would  have 
been  grotesque  but  for  the  effect  of  his  terrible, 
unchanging  voice,  which  brought  out  the  beauty  of 
his  words.  Everyman  entered,  gaily  clad  in  early 
fifteenth-century  costume,  and  singing  a  light 
song.  Death  held  a  dialogue  with  him,  and  finally 
struck  him  with  a  dart,  refusing  all  the  bribes  that 
Everyman  offered  him,  and  leaving  the  wounded 
man  to  himself.  In  terror  at  the  long  journey 
through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow,  Everyman  seeks 
a  companion  among  his  acquaintances.  First  he 
calls  on  Fellowship,  another  gay  character,  profuse 
in  promises  beforehand,  but  quickly  drawing  back 
when  he  hears  whither  Everyman  would  lead  him. 
Then  in  succession  other  friends  are  tried,  but  all 
excuse    themselves.    Finally   he   betakes   himself 


GRASP  THE  ETERNAL  NOW  33 

to  two  friends  hitherto  neglected,  Good  Deeds  and 
Knowledge.  They  stand  by  him,  but  insist  they 
cannot  help  him  now  unless  he  will  first  go  to 
Confession,  an  old  priest;  though  in  referring 
Everyman  to  this  good  priest  they  are  careful  to 
add  a  sharp  censure  on  evil  priests.  Everyman 
goes  to  the  good  priest,  makes  his  confession,  and, 
after  doing  penance,  he  covers  his  gay  worldly 
dress  with  the  sober  brown  garment  of  Contrition. 
Then,  when  he  has  made  his  testament  giving  half 
his  goods  in  charity,  he  receives  the  Sacrament,  and, 
clad  in  white  and  bearing  a  cross,  he  returns  with 
slow,  weak  steps  to  the  grave  on  the  other  plat- 
form. All  the  other  characters  desert  him,  and 
Knowledge  and  Good  Deeds  alone  are  left,  while 
Everyman  sinks  into  the  grave  with  a  final  cry  to 
God.  Hidden  angels  sing  joyfully  over  the  parting 
soul,  and  the  Doctor  appears  to  point  the  moral  in 
an  epilogue. 

Now  here,  in  the  crude  mediaeval  imagery,  we 
have  the  same  view  of  the  situation  to  which  St. 
Paul  gives  a  more  intellectual  touch,  but  to  like 
spiritual  effect.  That  mediaeval  playwright,  and 
the  spectators  of  his  "Morality,"  are  as  confident 
as  Paul  was  about  the  life  after  death,  and  they  are 
confident  in  the  same  way;  for  both  have  accepted 
the  message  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  do  not  pre- 
tend to  be  able  to  describe  the  physical  aspect  of 
the  world  beyond  the  grave.    They  do  not  dis- 


34  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

guise  the  natural  tremor  of  him  who  passes  thither, 
though  in  their  own  demeanor  there  is  more  of 
awe  for  themselves  than  of  fear  for  him.  They 
do  not  blink  the  fact  that  it  is  unnatural  for  him  or 
them  to  hurry  forward  the  hour  of  the  transition. 
Nevertheless  they  are  convinced,  as  Paul  was,  that 
the  essential  nature  of  the  life  after  death  is  so 
identical  with  the  nature  of  our  life  before  death 
that,  if  we  will,  we  can  Hve  here  on  the  same  plan, 
so  that  we  and  those  beyond  shall  be  in  the  same 
unbroken  line  of  life  everlasting.  Knowledge  and 
Good  Deeds  are  not  afraid  to  pass  over  with  Every- 
man at  death. 

One  might  pause  here  to  notice  how  this  con- 
viction of  both  Paul  and  the  mediaeval  play- 
wright agrees  with  what  modern  science  has 
taught  us — Darwin's  law  of  Development:  that 
nature  usually  moves,  not  by  fits  and  starts,  but 
by  a  steady  process,  one  step  leading  to  another; 
one  condition  of  things  containing  within  itself 
the  germ  of  what  shall  follow.  If,  then,  there  be  a 
future  life,  we  must,  as  Paul  says,  be  able  to  lay 
hold  of  it  here.  But  what  I  wish  to  emphasise  this 
afternoon  is,  that  Jesus  Christ  anticipated  this 
modern  science.  Christ  not  only  estabhshed  the 
fact  of  survival  after  death, — His  own  and  ours — 
but  He  disclosed  the  supplementary  fact  of  the 
continuity  of  character:  that  there  is  no  such 
absolute  unlikeness,   as  men  supposed,   between 


GRASP  THE  ETERNAL  NOW  35 

the  good  life  here  and  the  good  life  there.  Though 
we  cannot  now  imagine  the  scenery  of  the  Hfe  be- 
yond the  grave — eye  hath  not  seen  it,  no  brush 
can  draw  the  picture:  we  have  no  organs  here  for 
such  perception  of  it — nevertheless  we  have  other 
organs  that  perceive  it  even  now;  we  can  under- 
stand and  practice  the  manners  that  prevail  beyond 
the  grave:  we  have  seen,  we  can  imitate  the  sort  of 
conduct  here  on  earth  which  is  the  conduct  there 
of  those  with  whom  all  is  well.  Christ's  human 
Life  is  a  revelation  of  eternal  Life.  That  is  why  He 
insisted  that  His  disciples  should  establish  His 
identity  after  His  resurrection.  "Handle  Me,  and 
see  that  it  is  I  Myself" — the  very  same  you  knew 
before  I  died.  And,  as  He  constantly  insisted,  He 
was  not  in  this  appeal  emphasising  the  body  for 
the  body's  sake,  but  for  the  life's  sake,  for  char- 
acter's sake,  which  is  the  spirit  of  the  body.  "In 
Him  was  Life,  and  the  Life  is  the  Light  of  men." 
"This  is  the  record,  that  God  hath  given  unto  us 
eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  His  Son."  "We 
have  seen  it,"  says  St.  John.  "Our  hands  have 
handled  it,  and  we  bear  witness  and  shew  unto 
you  that  eternal  hfe  which  was  with  the  Father, 
and  was  manifested  unto  us."  In  other  words,  as 
the  mediaeval  playwright  put  it,  Everyman  has 
Knowledge  of  Jesus,  and  by  Good  Deeds  can  make 
Christ  his  friend,  Who  will  not  desert  him  when 
Death  calls  him  to  the  Hfe  that  is  to  be.    The  blood 


36  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

of  Christ  is  the  very  hfe  of  Christ,  and  that  saves 
Everyman.  Everyman  is  saved  if  he  uses  his 
knowledge  and  chooses  the  right  Hfe  rather  than 
the  wrong;  for  the  great  gulf  between  right  and 
wrong  is  both  here  and  there. 

Now  one  charge  against  our  religion  has  been, 
that  Christians  neglect  this  present  life  for  the 
dreamy,  dreary  hopes  of  another  life  to  come; 
and  unquestionably  the  weak  hold  of  our  religion 
on  men's  minds  and  wills  has  been  largely  due  to 
the  artificiaUty  of  many  of  our  forms  for  it.  St. 
Paul  himself  says,  "We  have  this  treasure  in 
earthen  vessels."  But  there  is  nothing  artificial 
when,  following  his  Master  Jesus,  Paul  enjoins: 
"Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  pure,  lovely, 
and  of  good  report:  if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if 
there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things.  And 
the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  understanding, 
shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ 
Jesus.  Brethren,  be  followers  of  me,  as  I  also  am 
of  Christ.  This  is  eternal  life,  to  know  Jesus 
Christ.  O  man  of  God,  lay  hold  on  eternal  life," 
i.e.,  grasp  it  now. 

So  the  Christian  Hves  and  labours  in  this  tem- 
poral scene,  facing  his  certain  grave  as  he  faces  the 
other  adventures  that  belong  to  the  mystery  of  our 
being,  and  are  lived  through— birth,  childhood, 
manhood,  marriage,    and    whatsoever    career   we 


GRASP  THE  ETERNAL  NOW  37 

choose:  for  the  element  of  adventure  is  in  them 
all.  This  present  world  has  been  made  interesting, 
absorbing,  dehghtful  as  well  as  sorrowful  and  diffi- 
cult, by  the  Creator's  deliberate  intention;  and 
there  is  nothing  foreign  to  God  in  it,  except  sin. 
It  was  meant  to  afford  a  fair  field  for  our  powers, 
our  tastes,  our  ambitions.  *'A11  things,"  the  Bible 
says,  "are  given  us  richly  to  enjoy."  It  is  a  very 
engrossing  affair,  and  was  intended  to  be  so.  It 
is  part  and  parcel  of  our  rehgion  to  work  here 
"while  it  is  called  today,  before  the  night  cometh." 
It  is  the  prudent  and  natural  exercise  of  our  God- 
given  faculties  to  spend  them  on  the  objects  which 
are  now  before  us,  since  the  objects  which  the  next 
life  shall  present  are  not  before  us  now.  For  the 
present,  if  we  be  practical,  we  must  expend  our 
powers  as  the  Bible  commands  and  commends: 
in  replenishing  the  earth  and  subduing  it.  "In 
your  patience  ye  shall  win  your  souls,"  was  one  of 
Christ's  last  words — in  building  our  earthly  homes, 
and  securing  our  finances,  and  educating  our  chil- 
dren, and  cultivating  our  social  gifts,  and  doing  our 
best  for  the  City  and  the  State,  and  for  the  inter- 
States  which  mankind's  progress  across  sea  and 
land  is  more  and  more  welding  into  one  vast, 
puzzling  problem  for  society  at  large.  The  whole 
earth — rivers  and  ocean  and  soil  and  sky— was 
meant  to  be  made  by  our  genius  to  contribute  to 
our  longevity.    Why  not?  since,  properly  speaking, 


38  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

we  need  not  be  lingering  at  all,  but  living  here  sub- 
stantially as  by  and  by  we  shall  be  living  beyond 
these  voices.  In  the  entire  whole  of  life,  if  we  be 
followers  of  Christ,  the  very  quaHties  that  serve 
us  best  here  will  serve  us  hereafter;  for  by  these  we 
shall  be  acquiring  good  character,  which  is  like 
gold:  it  is  good  anywhere;  it  circulates  everywhere 
— here  and  beyond  the  grave.  The  ancient  Egyp- 
tians, when  they  banqueted,  set  a  corpse  among 
the  guests  for  a  memorial  of  human  vanity;  but 
the  true  Christian  is  mindful  of  the  inevitable 
grave,  not  to  render  his  enjoyments  gloomy  and 
taciturn  nor  to  paralyse  his  energy,  but  to  test 
what  it  is  worth  while  to  be  ambitious  about — 
right  character:  Knowledge  and  Good  Deeds. 
On  the  road  to  Emmaus  Christ,  even  after  His 
resurrection,  looks  back  and  mentions  His  death 
without  a  qualm.  It  does  not  trouble  Him  to 
recall  either  the  suffering  that  preceded  it  or  the 
crisis  itself.     His  life  transcends  them. 

So  for  us  it  is  simply  a  question  of  what  we  put 
faith  in  for  the  Everlasting  Now.  "Now  is  the 
day  of  salvation."  If  you  choose,  you  can  put 
faith  in  the  type  of  character  that  is  contrary  to 
Christ;  as  if  injustice  and  impurity  and  dishonesty 
and  selfishness  were  the  way  of  life — the  way  to 
succeed.  Many  do  so,  making  these  things  the 
object  of  their  faith;  and,  as  Christ  says,  "Verily, 
they    have    their    reward."    But    for    now    two 


GRASP  THE  ETERNAL  NOW  39 

thousand  years  Jesus  is  before  mankind  as  the 
right  Object  of  faith,  if  what  we  want  is  Everlast- 
ing Life.  "Jesus  said  unto  His  disciples,  Will  ye 
also  go  away?  Peter  saith  unto  Him,  Lord,  to 
whom  shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal 
Hfe."  It  is  not,  as  some  say:  "If  you  do  so  and 
so,  you  will  get  there."  It  is  that,  if  you  Uve  right, 
you  are  there.  For  persons  of  good  will,  death  is 
simply  another  instance  of  passing  on  from  plane 
to  plane,  from  sphere  to  sphere,  of  continuous 
being,  with  God  in  Whom  we  have  our  being.  It 
rests  with  you  and  me,  as  it  did  with  Peter,  to  make 
that  act  of  personal  faith;  for  "he  that  cometh  to 
God  must  believe  that  He  is,  and  that  He  is  a 
rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him." 
"This  is  the  anchor  of  the  soul  which  entereth 
within  the  vail,  whither  our  Forerunner  is  for  us 
entered,  even  Jesus." 

Every  phase  of  actual  hfe  involves  an  act  of 
faith.  As  the  baby  at  the  breast  begins  by  an 
act  of  faith  in  his  mother,  whose  hfe  he  draws  in 
order  to  Uve  at  all,  so  the  Christian  thrives  spirit- 
ually by  faith  in  Jesus  and  His  Life.  But  faith 
brings  experience  also.  The  baby  gets  Hfe  at  the 
mother's  breast;  and  he  who  takes  Christ's  Hfe 
Uttle  by  Httle  feels  and  knows  that  he  is  in  the  Way 
of  Life,  which  is  purity,  truth,  justice,  mercy  and 
charity.  As  Christ  said  to  the  Woman  of  Samaria: 
"Whoso  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shah  give  him, 


40  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a 
well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 

So  whenever  a  good  deed  is  done,  or  a  true  word 
spoken,  by  you  or  to  you,  say  to  yourself  inwardly, 
"Thus  it  shall  be  for  ever  and  ever.  To  me  to  live 
is  Christ.     Lift  me  up  forever!" 

Men  and  brethren,  was  there  ever  a  period  in 
human  history  when  death  was  so  evident  as  now 
and  caused  so  little  surprise?  We  see  the  sword 
suspended  over  all  the  world,  and  hanging  by  a 
single  hair.  Everyman  is  no  longer  an  actor  on  a 
stage  for  us,  since  all  of  us  are  he.  Does  it  not 
behoove  us,  then,  to  do  in  actual  hfe  what  he  did 
on  the  stage?  All  the  world's  the  stage,  and  all 
men  and  women  are  the  players.  But  let  us  not 
magnify  the  Hearse,  for  that  is  but  a  signal  of  the 
Eternal  Now.  Lay  hold  on  this,  O  man  of  God, 
with  confidence  and  joy. 


IV 
THE    TRANSFIGURATION    OF    HUMILITY 

And  they  found  Mary  and  Joseph,  and  the  Babe  lying 
in  a  manger  .  .  .  She  laid  Him  in  a  manger,  because 
there  was  no  room  for  them  in  the  inn. 

— S.  Luke  n:i6,  7. 
He  humbled  Himself. 

— Philippians  ii:5. 

Not  very  long  ago  the  Governor  of  Arizona, 
just  to  see  what  it  feels  like  to  be  in  jail,  volun- 
tarily spent  a  day  in  cell  number  24  of  the  State's 
Prison,  to  which  he  is  often  obliged  to  condemn  his 
fellowmen.  Not  a  single  newspaper  spoke  of  it  as 
a  humiliating  act.  No  one  here  present  would  so 
regard  it.  But  at  the  outset  even  of  our  Christian 
era  that  act  of  the  Governor  of  Arizona  would  have 
been  considered  humiliating.  What  has  wrought 
this  change  in  human  opinion?  The  birth,  the 
life,  the  death  of  Jesus,  realised  in  human  history. 
And  the  way  men's  change  of  mind  about  it  began 
is  recorded  by  St.  Paul.  He  summed  up  his  im- 
pression of  Christ's  whole  transaction  in  a  single 
phrase,  where  sorrow  turns  to  joy — a  phrase  so 
terse  that  it  lingers  even  in  our  forgetful  memories. 

''He  humbled  Himself."  Once  it  has  been 
applied  to  the  Son  of  God,  that  phrase  acquires  a 

41 


42  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

new  meaning  and  a  different  tone;  and  because 
we  do  apply  it  so,  the  world's  idea  of  humility  is 
slowly  changing  wherever  Christ  is  known. 

To  gauge  this  moral  and  intellectual  change  in  us, 
notice  that  the  idea  of  humble  service  by  one  per- 
son of  another  has  so  penetrated  our  social  system 
that  if  any  person  now  undertakes  to  rule  us  by 
Divine  Right  without  first  proving  that  he  can  and 
will  serve  us,  we  instinctively  resist  his  claims; 
and  when  Democracy  claims  Divine  Right,  we 
Christian  democrats  submit  it  to  the  same  test. 
"Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the 
law  of  Christ;  for  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His 
life  a  ransom  for  many" — this  is  no  longer  a  maxim 
of  the  New  Testament  alone :  it  is  a  principle  of  our 
best  civilization.  We  deem  it  savagery  to  be 
otherwise  minded.  But  put  your  mind  back  eight- 
een hundred  years,  and  hear  the  scoff  of  Celsus, 
the  leading  earnest  sceptic  of  the  first  Christian 
era.  Celsus  was  a  good  man,  a  reHgious  man 
acording  to  his  lights;  yet  this  is  his  impression  of 
Jesus:  "So  this  is  your  God,  and  he  who  came  to 
save  the  world  is  the  son  of  a  carpenter!"  To  a 
pagan  in  the  time  of  the  Cassars,  it  was  incredible 
that  the  world's  master,  no  matter  how  good, 
should  enter  it  in  any  such  guise.  Whereas  if  you 
walk  the  streets  of  New  York  to-day,  and  gather 
about  you  the  people  whether  rich  or  poor,  it  is  no 


HUMILITY  TRANSFIGURED  43 

stumbling-block  to  their  faith  that  Christ  took  the 
form  of  a  servant,  nor  even  that  He  died  upon  a 
Cross.  The  high,  ethical  force — not  alone  the 
beauty  but  the  force— of  human  Love,  stopping  at 
nothing  that  will  help  the  object  of  affection,  is  so 
plain  that  when  God  comes  down  for  like  purpose 
it  does  not,  in  our  eyes,  degrade  Him.  Not  that 
we  do  not  require,  as  the  Pagans  did,  that  our  God 
shall  show  Himself  to  be  powerful.  Nay,  we  still 
must  have  Him  so — the  Almighty,  Who  is  a  most 
strong  Tower.  Rather  it  is  that  we  have  deepened 
our  conception  of  what  the  highest  power  is. 
Brute  force  is  to  us  no  longer  a  sacred  manifesta- 
tion: it  is  little  better  than  mechanical — but  one 
step  higher  than  machinery  and  engines,  on  the 
way  from  matter  to  true  man ;  whereas  the  ability 
to  be  self-controlled  and  self-devoted,  to  curb 
unHmited  desire  and  arbitrate  antagonisms,  is  to  us 
a  sign  that  a  low  form  of  force  is  being  refined,  trans- 
formed by  the  higher  intellect  and  the  nobler  spirit 
and  thereby  made  stronger  than  before. 

Notice  that  it  had  been  by  some  supposed  that  if 
you  develop  the  intellect,  man  will  thereby  of 
himself  alone  outgrow  all  that  is  brutal.  But  the 
devil  was  on  his  guard.  He  was  ready  to  tempt 
even  intellectuals  to  be  brutish  still.  Now,  how- 
ever, that  the  intellectual  aggressor  has  had,  by  a 
world-war,  this  colossal  demonstration  that  brute 
force  is  in  the  long  run  futile  for  the  government  of 


44  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

intellectual  men,  since  educated  men  resent  such 
force;  so  soon  as  the  physically  weaker  are  or- 
ganized to  protect  themselves  against  reckless 
antagonism, — so  soon  as  brutish  intellectuals  are 
at  a  deadlock  with  intellectuals  that  are  not  brutish, 
and  the  force  of  spirit  has  a  chance  to  hold  the 
sceptre  over  all — perhaps  God's  time  is  at  hand  for 
the  overbearing  men  to  regain  their  mental  bal- 
ance, and  see  that  Christ  was  right :  that  the  most 
compelling  force  of  all — not  destructive  of  either 
compeller  or  compelled— is  intelligent  Love,  that 
"stoops  to  conquer."  As  our  beautiful  iioth 
Psalm,  of  this  morning's  service  expressed  it,  "He 
shall  drink  of  the  brook  in  the  way :  therefore  shall 
he  lift  up  his  head." 

But  there  are  other  appKcations  of  Christ's 
humility  in  coming  to  us,  which  we  still  find  hard 
to  accept,  though  these  also  are  in  process  of  ac- 
ceptance. 

One  of  these  is  in  the  field  where  the  human  mind 
has  reached  the  conception  of  natural  law.  Of 
course  law  implies  a  lawgiver,  and  the  lawgiver,  if 
present,  need  not  be  necessarily  inflexible.  But 
the  barbarian  mind  originally  did  not  know  that 
there  are  laws  of  nature,  and  so  they  were  not 
thought  of  as  hindrances  in  God's  way.  How- 
ever when  physical  science  had  disclosed  the  idea 
of  natural  law  and  made  it  vivid,  then  to  many 
who  were  religiously  disposed  natural  law  seemed 


HUMILITY  TRANSFIGURED  45 

to  be  a  hindrance  to  the  effective  presence  here  of 
the  great  Strong  God,  to  Whom  men  used  to  pray, 
on  Whom  they  used  to  lean.  God  seemed  to  be 
locked  out  of  His  Kingdom  in  this  world,  however 
it  be  in  the  world  to  come.  As  this  afternoon's 
Lesson  from  Isaiah  put  it,  "Oh  that  Thou  wouldest 
rend  the  heavens :  that  Thou  wouldest  come  down ; 
that  the  mountains  might  flow  down  at  Thy 
Presence!" — that  was  the  disposition  of  many 
educated  minds  that  were  religiously  disposed. 
The  ancients  had  thought  it  natural  for  God  to 
swagger  around  the  universe;  and  though  educated 
moderns  did  not  expect  God  to  swagger  and  be 
blatant,  that  He  should  endure  the  burden  of  a 
physical  Cross  was  to  them  unintelligible.  Though 
they  could  see  the  beauty  and  the  moral  force  of 
endurance  on  man's  part,  and  even  on  God's 
part  in  the  moral  sphere,  they  could  not  bear  that 
God  should  not  evidently  display  His  power  over 
the  physical  mechanism  of  this  world:  they  could 
not  think  of  Him  as  serving  us  even  according  to 
His  own  laws.  God  must  be  hke  the  average 
of  human  beings,  who,  even  if  they  are  educated, 
when  they  have  effective  power  want  it  to  be  con- 
spicuous. So,  if  there  be  a  God  Who  is  effective 
here,  He  must  "rend  the  heavens  and  come  down." 
This  difficulty  of  scientific  minds  was  slowly 
disappearing  even  before  this  world-wide  war 
broke  out.    For  after  all,  it  was  largely  a  difficulty 


46  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

of  the  scientific  imagination.  Men  could  not  imag- 
ine how  an  Almighty  God  could  hide  Himself  in 
His  own  laws,  and  still  be  our  Saviour.  But  more 
and  more  the  scientist  found  many  other  mys- 
terious matters,  which  he  has  proved  to  be  facts 
though  he  cannot  imagine  how :  and  meanwhile  the 
spiritual  side  of  the  scientist's  imagination  waxed 
stronger  than  it  had  been;  for  natural  science 
became  less  materialistic  in  its  own  premises.  To 
such  men  as  Kelvin  and  Wallace  and  Barrett  and 
Pasteur  and  Oliver  Lodge,  and  to  philosophers  like 
Bergson  and  others,  their  own  scientific  terms  and 
postulates  are  involved  with  soul-power.  Even 
practical  skill  is  recognised  to  be  inwrought  with 
such  power,  without  which  no  machine  will  oper- 
ate; and  even  machines  when  used  are  found 
not  to  have  restricted,  but  to  have  enlarged  the 
scope  and  reach  of  the  spirit  that  is  in  man.  By 
practical  skill  a  man  takes  over  the  machine  that 
science  gives  him,  and  makes  it  an  extension  of  his 
own  body,  so  that  the  machine,  like  and  with  his 
body,  works  to  spiritual  ends ;  and  these  ends  must 
still  be  judged  by  those  same  old  awful,  spiritual 
tests — the  bad  and  the  good.  Man's  fingers 
manipulate  the  machine,  but  there  is  soul-power  in 
his  fingers  that  quaHfies  both  the  fingers  and  the 
machine.     George  Herbert's  poem, 

"Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  God's  laws 
Makes  that  a^d  the  action  fine," 


HUMILITY  TRANSFIGURED  47 

can  be  translated  into  the  whole  colossal  field  of 
modern  physics  and  mechanics.  A  doctor  in  his 
laboratory  and  clinic;  an  architect  rebuilding 
San  Francisco  with  stone  and  steel  after  an  earth- 
quake, or  Halifax  after  an  explosion,  is  manifesting 
an  energy  of  soul  that  brings  life  and  love  and 
happiness  into  the  realm  of  what  looked  like  fatality. 
And  as  his  heart  and  mind  glow  with  that  con- 
sciousness, he  is  not  far  from  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  "the  spirit  of  man  is  the  candle  of 
the  Lord,"  Who  worketh  in  us  whether  to  will  or 
to  do. 

Many  highly  educated  men  had  got  that  far 
when  the  war  came.  Just  before  the  war  a  speaker 
in  London  said:  "Ever  since  I  was  a  boy  I  had  the 
feehng  that  the  spiritual  world  is  so  real,  so  near 
me,  that  I  could  almost  put  my  fist  into  it."  But 
since  this  war  began,  he  and  thousands  of  noble 
men,  plain  men,  are  sure  that  they  are  putting 
their  fists  into  a  spiritual  world — wrestling,  as  St. 
Paul  says,  not  with  flesh  and  blood,  but  with  evil 
spirits,  while  good  spirits  are  on  their  side.  And 
behind  the  battle  line,  in  scientific  laboratories 
helping  on  the  Cause,  the  imagination  of  the  hard- 
working scientist  has  not  found  itself  cramped 
by  the  idea  of  natural  law.  For  now  he  sees  that 
the  good  or  evil  of  his  scientific  instruments  is  not 
determined  by  them  as  mere  machines;  and  that 
they  work  both  ways,  good  and  bad.      In  some 


48  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

men's  hands,  because  of  their  mentality,  these 
machines  are  devoted  to  brutal  destruction; 
while  in  other  hands  the  same  implements  are  safe- 
guarding the  most  precious,  the  most  spiritual 
powers  of  the  human  race;  and  the  cross  of  Christ 
— a  Red  Cross  now — can  move  in  benediction  on 
any  field.  This  experience  was  expressed  for  us 
Americans,  not  by  a  professional  parson  in  the 
usual  Church,  but  by  our  President  from  the 
White  House,  when  in  his  last  address  Mr.  Wilson 
focussed  all  the  natural  laws  and  the  mechanical 
apparatus,  and  in  the  hearing  of  mankind  gave  this 
profoundly  spiritual  account  of  what  we  and  our 
Allies  are  engaged  in.  He  said:  "This  intoler- 
able thing  of  which  the  masters  of  Germany  have 
shown  us  the  ugly  face,  this  menace  of  combined 
intrigue  and  force  which  we  now  see  as  the  German 
power,  a  thing  without  conscience  or  honour  or 
covenanted  peace."  On  hearing  that,  which  of 
us  had  difficulty  in  imagining  that  this  is  a  spir- 
itual world?  and  that  as  God  in  Christ  long  ago 
came  down  into  this  world,  even  if  there  was  no 
room  for  Him  in  Bethlehem's  inn,  so  again  He  is 
coming  now  into  this  frightful  scene,  where  there 
seems  to  be  small  room  for  Him? 

Thus  not  alone  the  plain  man,  but  the  man  of 
science  tempted  on  a  narrower  field  to  suppose 
that  God's  force,  if  genuine,  must  be  immediate 
in  order  to  be  effective,  is  having  on  the  wider  field 


HUMILITY  TRANSFIGURED  49 

of  war  an  immense  object-lesson,  and  that  in  the 
very  direction  whence  part  of  his  trouble  came. 
It  had  been  the  delegation  of  Divine  Power,  the 
scattering  of  it,  the  committal  of  it  to  second  and 
third  and  a  thousand  hands,  until  the  hall-mark  of 
Divinity  seemed  to  be  lost  in  the  human  crowd, 
and  in  natural  laws  and  physical  devices — it  was 
largely  this  that  made  it  hard  for  the  scientific 
imagination  to  see  how  there  can  be  really  a  Divine 
government  of  this  multifarious  world.  But  on 
the  enormous  scale  of  this  world-war  we  are  having 
an  impressive  illustration  of  how,  in  spite  of  appear- 
ances, a  truly  governing  influence  and  stress  can 
be  effected  even  by  a  central  mind  and  will  that 
are  only  human;  so  that  our  spiritual  imagination 
finds  it  easier  to  apply  to  God's  government  what 
we  see  in  man's.  By  sheer  stress  of  circum- 
stances the  man  of  science  has  had  to  leave  his 
sequestered  laboratory,  where  in  quietness  he  felt 
his  personal  power,  as  if  things  were  in  his  con- 
scious grip.  He  has  had  to  go  out  and  commit 
himself  to  others,  less  scientific  and  far  less  inven- 
tive than  he.  Yet  though  science,  now  more  than 
ever,  is  confessedly  a  large  part  of  warfare;  and 
though  the  field  of  what  must  be  done  scien- 
tifically in  warfare  is  vast  almost  beyond  concep- 
tion; and  though  the  central  scientist  is  lost  to 
view  in  the  crowd — hidden  away  in  a  complicated 
chain  of  secondary  causes  and  secondary  persons — 


50  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

nevertheless  the  influence  and  control  of  that 
central  scientific  man  are  so  effective  that  in  the 
result  he  feels  himself.  Edison,  Wright,  Mar- 
coni; the  inventors  of  the  submarine  and  of  the 
stabilizer  for  the  flying  machine;  the  English 
Colonel  Swinton  who  conceived  the  tank — who 
shall  say  that  these  men  are  not  effective  in  this 
stupendous  undertaking  and  felt  throughout  the 
world?  Yet  they  are  almost  as  invisible  and  un- 
perceived  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  oper- 
ate for  them,  as  God  is  invisible  in  His  universe 
to  the  creatures  of  His  hand.  The  man  of  science 
knows  how  men  generally  look  to  him  to  win  this 
war,  and  he  is  answering  their  prayers.  What  a 
physical,  mental,  spiritual  presence  he  has  in  and 
among  us!  how  executive  after  all  he  is!  He  is 
about  our  path  and  about  our  bed,  "making  the 
world  safe  for  Democracy."  And  lo!  not  one  of  us 
thinks  that  his  self-effacement  is  the  least  humil- 
iating: we  exalt  him  highly,  and  give  him  a  great 
name.  And  if  the  scientists  have  crosses  to  bear, 
as  they  all  have;  if  they  must  weep  over  the  inad- 
equacy and  obstinacy  of  small  men,  and  the  ego- 
tism even  of  otherwise  capable  and  faithful  men; 
if  they  must  be  shocked  to  see  their  implements 
misused  by  bad  men ;  is  not  all  this  of  a  piece  with 
the  revealed  experience  of  the  Divine  Being  Who 
has  borne  our  infirmities,  and  by  Whose  stripes  we 
are   healed?    Even   the   Old   Testament  prophet 


HUMILITY  TRANSFIGURED  51 

said  of  the  Heavenly  Father,  ''Doubtless  Thou  art 
a  God  that  hidest  Thyself,  O  God  of  Israel  the 
Saviour";  and  when  Christ  was  here  He  used 
to  speak  in  lovely  words  about  the  birds  of  the  air 
and  the  flowers  of  the  field,  and  such  Kke  peaceful 
samples  of  God's  presence  and  efficiency.  Now 
the  illustrations  that  come  to  us  seem  grim 
and  forbidding.  Yet  the  lessons  from  the  field 
of  war  were  also  foreshadowed  by  the  winged, 
searching  words  in  which,  on  other  occasions 
than  peaceful  GaHlee,  our  Lord  expressed  Himself 
to  men. 

Furthermore,  as  human  society  develops  into 
Christian  civiHzation,  we  are  convinced  that  not 
only  was  Christ's  humihation  the  divinest  quahty  of 
His  manifestation,  but  that  it  is  in  keeping  with 
the  most  fundamental  feature  of  human  society, 
the  Family.  The  family,  of  many  members,  is  a 
perpetual  object-lesson  for  man  of  what  Christ 
reveals  to  us  of  God,  Which  inhabiteth  eternity. 
In  our  famines  law  and  love — guidance  and  due 
punishment,  but  not  drastic  compulsion;  the  dis- 
cipline of  experience,  and  the  force  of  persuasive 
example — these  introduce  us  to  the  life  on  earth, 
and  prepare  us  for  the  life  to  come.  The  best 
ordered  household  is  the  most  amenable  to  laws. 
The  head  of  the  house  is  not  obtrusive  in  the  man- 
agement; and  although  you  would  miss  the  master 
and  mistress  if  they  were  not  there,  you  often  for- 


52  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

get  they  are  there,  since  the  home  seems  to  run 
itself.     So  with  our  Heavenly  Father. 

"  Behind  the  great  unknown 
Standeth  God  within  the  shadow,  keeping  watch  above  His 
own." 

Still  speak,  if  you  will,  of  the  humiHation  of  the 
Incarnation— so  tenaciously  does  the  paradox  of  it 
cHng  to  our  Christian  phraseology — but  grasp  with 
mind  and  heart  and  will  that  the  manner  of  our 
Lord's  birth  and  crucifixion  is  but  the  supreme 
instance  of  God's  method  in  the  universe  as  one 
whole;  and  that  the  surprise  about  it,  which  is 
expressed  even  in  the  Bible,  is  the  creature's  sur- 
prise, not  the  Creator's.  "Thus  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts;  if  it  be  marvellous  in  the  eyes  of  the  rem- 
nant of  this  people  in  these  days,  should  it  be  also 
marvellous  in  Mine  eyes?  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 
It  is  God's  custom  to  order  His  conduct  without  the 
self-assertion,  or  rather  without  the  self-display, 
which  even  in  human  beings  is  a  sign  of  imper- 
fection, not  of  superabundant  power.  We  must 
outlive  our  barbarian  mind.  We  must  accept 
Christ's  revelation  of  what  God  actually  is:  the 
I  AM  That  I  AM. 

The  fact  is,  God  in  Christ  is  educating  us; 
and  here  the  irony  of  St.  Paul  appHes:  *'the 
weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men."  As  with 
human  teachers  and  their  pupils,  we  cannot  gauge 


HUMILITY  TRANSFIGURED  53 

God's  ultimate  purposes,  though  Christ  has  helped 
us  to  know  some  of  them,  and  much  of  God's 
character.  But  if  God  is  educating  us  as  we  edu- 
cate our  children,  can  we  imagine  a  more  efficient 
way?  Perhaps,  in  this  short,  perplexing  world, 
it  is  not  so  much  a  question — to  employ  the  phrase 
a  young  man  used  to  me — it  is  not  so  much  a 
question  whether  God  "gets  there,"  as  whether  we 
do.    And  perhaps  we  are  getting  there. 

"Thouart  the  Way. 
Hadst  Thou  been  nothing  but  the  goal, 

I  cannot  say 
If  Thou  hadst  ever  met  my  soul." 

Brothers,  in  this  especially  tr3dng  time  some  of 
us  have  allowed  ourselves  to  be  despondent,  as 
if  the  Church  and  the  religion  of  Jesus  were  being 
successfully  treated  with  contempt.  But  it  is  an 
over-eager  reading  of  the  ways  of  Providence  to 
conclude  that  the  better,  the  ultimate  cause  must 
quickly  win.  So  it  is  well  for  us  to  be  brought  at 
Christmastide  to  the  cradle  of  the  Christchild. 
The  old  master  Garofalo  pictures  it  so  that  even 
there  and  then  the  happy,  adoring  angels  are  pre- 
senting the  Holy  Child  with  the  nails  and  scourge, 
symbols  of  the  prolonged  suffering  that  was  to 
befall  Him  before  the  end.  We  must  not  quite 
forget,  even  in  our  Christmas  joy,  that  iniquity 
was  apparently  triumphant  in  our  Lord's  Kfe,  and 
right  was  crucified.    Nay,  no  sooner  did  He  rise 


54  CHRIST'S  CHALLENGE  TO  MAN 

again  in  glory,  manifesting  His  power  over  the 
grave,  so  that  if.  looked  as  if  henceforth  He  would, 
as  we  are  wont  to  say,  "have  His  own  way"  in 
everything — no  sooner  did  He  rise  from  the  dead 
than  He  began  by  restricting  that  marvellous 
manifestation  to  a  very  small  number  of  persons. 
As  St.  Peter  said  in  his  address  to  the  kinsmen  and 
friends  of  Cornelius:  "Him  God  raised  up  the  third 
day,  and  shewed  Him  openly;  not  to  all  the  peo- 
ple, but  unto  witnesses  chosen  before  of  God,  even 
to  us."  And  thereafter  our  Lord  pursued  the  same 
old  perplexing  method.  For  did  He  not  commit 
His  cause  to  the  frail  and  faulty  apprehension  of 
Jew  and  Gentile,  leaving  it  to  be  worked  out  by  the 
little  faith  of  such  disciples?  We  are  working  it 
out  now. 

And,  by  a  strange  coincidence,  it  is  in  these  dark 
days  that  the  good  news  has  come  that  the  English 
have  taken  Jerusalem  and  Bethlehem  for  the  AlHed 
Cause;  and  this  without  firing  a  single  gun  at  the 
holy  places.  May  we  not  take  this  as  a  sign  that 
the  long-suffering  Spirit  of  Jesus,  humiUated  as 
men  think,  is  bound  to  Hve  and  grow  among  us  in 
God's  own  way  and  time?  God  is  in  no  hurry,  for 
He  has  eternity  to  work  in;  and  our  times  are  in 
His  Hand.  This  time  there  is  room  for  Him  in 
Bethlehem's  inn. 


APPENDIX 


THE  DEAN'S  OFFICE 

Cathedral  of  St.  John  The  Divine,  New  York 

The  Rev.  George  William  Douglas,  D.D., 
5  East  88th  Street,  New  York  City. 

December  26,  191 7. 

My  dear  Dr.  Douglas: 

Let  me  express  again  my  appreciation  of  the  service 
you  have  rendered  to  the  Cathedral  in  preaching  here 
the  series  of  Advent  sermons  which  was  concluded 
last  Sunday. 

You  have  placed  us  all  under  a  great  obligation. 
You  will  put  us  still  deeper  in  debt  if  you  will  accede 
to  the  wish  which  many  have  expressed  that  the 
sermons  might  be  published.  So  many  have  found 
them  stimulating  and  helpful  that  the  publication  of 
them  would  be  a  public  benefit. 

With  warm  regard,  I  am, 

Faithfully  yours, 

(Signed)  Howard  C.  Robbins. 


TUCKAHOE,   N.  Y., 

Jan.  2,  1918. 
Dear  Doctor  Douglas: 

It  is  my  pleasant  duty  to  notify  you  that  at  the 
last  meeting  of  The  Clericus  it  was  moved  and  unani- 
mously carried  that  The  Clericus  should  request  you 
to  publish  your  Advent  Sermons  at  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  John  the  Divine.  The  members  present  desired 
to  sign  their  names  to  this  request,  and  some  who 
were  not  present  particularly  desired  to  do  the  same. 
I  am  forwarding  their  signatures  herewith. 
I  wish  you  God's  blessing  on  a  happy  new  year. 
Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)  Frederick  A.  Wright, 
Secretary  of  The  Clericus. 

Henry  Townsend  Scudder  Herbert  J.  Glover 

Arthur  L.  Bumpus  L.  W.  Batten 

Charles  F.  Canedy  Wm.  Sheafe  Chase 

Randall  C.  Hall  Henry  A.  Dows 

Floyd  S.  Leach  Frederick  A.  Wright 

Melville  K.  Bailey  W.  H.  Owen,  Jr. 

Stanley  Browne-Serman  Henry  V.  B.  Darlington 

John  Mark  Ericsson  Robert  Ellis  Jones 

George  F.  Nelson  E.  Vicars  Stevenson 

G.  A.  Carstensen  W.  S.  Bishop 

John  Williams 


FEINTED    BY    BEAUNWOETH    &    CO.,    BROOKLYN.    N.    Y. 


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